Penn Zero Moments
by BobMarley01
Summary: So this fanfiction is "moments" between Penn and Sashi that could have happened. They take place either before, during, or after an episode. These scenes will be extensions of the episode where Penn and Sashi have a moment that develops their relationship beyond "just friends". The romance will not be outright, more implied, and will develop as the story goes on. Enjoy!
1. Flurgle Burgle

**Penn Zero "Moments"**

**Author's Note**

**This fanfiction will be extensions or added scenes from certain episodes where Penn and Sashi had a "moment" or could have had one. There will be episode names so you know in which episode the scene takes place. One thing I've never really liked about some stories is how the romance is always pre-set (I sometimes use made-up words because I can't think of a word that best says what I'm trying to say) and how the entire plot revolves around said romance. Some moments are too forced or too unrealistic and while the characters may act normal on the outside, internally, they are a total mess. I wanted to write this out in a way that made the romance develop in a somewhat realistic way and I found that the best way to do that for me personally was . . . well, you'll see as you read on.**

**Constructive criticism is welcome. If you just want to be mean, you need to find something better to do with your life. This is my first fanfiction ever so please be a little lenient. Review and tell me what I can improve on. Writing is something I've always liked and it's something I've wanted to improve but I never really knew who to ask for help and share my work with for fear of being judged until I found this. So if you have any tips on how I can improve my writing, that would be really helpful. I also found that fanfiction on this show was really lacking and the show itself was lacking in popularity despite how good it is. So I decided to do something about it. I hope you guys (and girls) enjoy my work and if you want, I will continue to make more. Also, just so you guys (and girls) know, I don't write smut. It's just not my cup of tea. Anyways, if you guys (and girls, I say 'guys' way too much) have read all of this until now, thank you so much, you are automatically my favorite people, I will stop talking now, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: The only thing I own is the plot and the original characters. All character rights go to their respective owners.**

* * *

**Flurgle Burgle**

"Almost there, Sash, just hold on!"

"Penn, forget about me, just go or we'll both die!"

"I never leave a friend behind, Sashi."

"Penn, we're running out of time! JUST GO!"

The enemies were drawing closer and the doors were closing. Sashi knew that if Penn stayed for much longer, they would get him too. She was a lost cause. Couldn't he see that?

Who was she kidding? Of course he could see that. She saw it on his face even as he dragged her towards the doors that were already halfway shut. He would never leave her behind, even if it meant going down with her. It was one of the things she admired the most about him. It might also have been why he was the one chosen to be the Hero, despite her superiority in many aspects of the job.

"Almost there," Penn said, his voice anxious as the swarm of monsters behind them quickly closed the distance between them.

"Penn, please, just go," Sashi begged him. "I don't want to be the reason you lose."

"Sashi, every mission we ever went on, every victory we ever celebrated, every world we ever saved, was because of you. You'll never be the reason I lose."

She looked at him, feeling as if there was another meaning to his words but not being able to figure out what it was.

Just then, the doors before them shut completely and the swarm of enemies caught up. Their avatars were torn apart in a gruesome fashion as the 'Game Over' sign flashed on their screen, dripping as if it were written in blood. How cliché.

"Well, at least not in real life," Penn said as he sighed, putting down the controller and stretching as he got up.

"I told you to leave without me," Sashi said.

"The missions were only going to get harder. I only made it that far into the mission with your help. I would've died in the first few minutes in the next one."

Sashi knew he was trying to make her feel better but it wasn't working. While she had spent almost her whole life in Sidekick School, Penn had lived an ordinary life, playing video games like those and mastering everything there was to master. Even though this game was really new, the gameplay was more or less the same as other games of its genre so it was still right up Penn's alley, meaning he could have probably cleared the whole game without much difficulty had he not spent those few precious seconds dragging her to the end of the level. As much as she hated to admit it, this was one thing he was supremely superior at and she had a feeling she would never catch up.

"Are you leaving?" she asked, seeing him put on his shoes.

"Yeah. I should probably head home. Uncle Rose and Aunt Chuck will probably need help around the house."

"They're adults. They can handle it."

"I don't think you understood me, Sash. I don't want to leave the house in their hands." He shuddered at the thought and a chill went up her spine as she realized what he was trying to say.

Boone had already left earlier, saying he wanted to spend some time with his flip flops. Her parents had gone out, saying they were going to meet with some friends. George was in his room sleeping. The guy always went to bed really early, though why, she could never figure out. Seeing that there was nothing left for her to do and not wanting to keep Penn around for fear that he might suggest they eat some more cake, Sashi got up and put on her shoes.

Penn looked at her curiously.

"There's nothing for me to do around here and I don't want to play that stupid game anymore."

"I could teach you," Penn offered. Sashi shook her head in response.

"You should probably go home. I know you're scared for what might happen to your house."

"And you're scared for what might happen to your digestive system if I ask you to eat more cake."

She froze, her face resembling a deer caught in headlights. She looked at Penn guiltily but he just chuckled and waved his hand, telling her it was okay.

"It was bad, I know. I kept telling Boone to let me handle the ingredients." He stopped, his expression becoming thoughtful. Suddenly, his face lit up, and Sashi could practically see the lightbulb in his head flash on.

"The cake could make for a pretty good weapon against Rippen." His smile suddenly turned evil and he looked at her conspiratorially. "Or we could give it to him anonymously as a present from the class." He chuckled darkly.

Sashi smiled, partly because it was a great idea that they would surely act on and partly because Penn wasn't hurt that she didn't like the cake.

She finished tying her shoes and they both walked out of the apartment, turning off all the lights and closing the door and locking it behind them. It was night by the time they reached Penn's neighborhood. As they walked in companionable silence, Sashi glanced at Penn to see him admiring the stars. She turned her head to look at them too and she could see what he saw in them. Unlike most cities, Middleburg had very little pollution, so the stars would come out nearly every night and they shone so brightly that even Sashi, tough as she was, couldn't help but admire them in their beauty.

"Pretty, aren't they?"

"Yeah, they are," Sashi agreed.

"So even the great Sashi Kobayashi can appreciate the little things in life," he joked. She playfully punched him in the shoulder.

"So just because I'm tough, I'm not allowed to like pretty things?"

"It's not that," Penn said, his tone thoughtful. Sashi looked at him, but he was still looking up at the sky.

"It's just that this seems like something you'd keep on a 'need-to-know basis' and I don't 'need to know'," he said, and he almost sounded hurt. She was about to say something but he went on.

"Also, you're a tomboy, so it's a bit too girly for you." At this, she frowned and crossed her arms, turning her head away from him with an overdramatic "Hmph!", causing him to chuckle again. Then she smiled playfully as she looked at him with a mischievous look in her eye.

"So you think liking stars is girly?" she asked.

"Not in a sexist way, but for you, yeah," he answered. Her eyebrow twitched in annoyance but she continued.

"So I guess between the two of us, you're the girlier one, huh?"

"Well, I would look great in a dress," he said. At this she laughed, imagining Penn in a dress. Sure, she had seen him as a princess before, but it would be way funnier in real life.

"Heeeeyyyy," he said feigning hurt. "I'd definitely look better than you," he said confidently.

"You've never seen me in a dress, PZ," she said.

"Then why don't you show me?" he asked challengingly, drawing closer.

"I don't think you could handle it," she said, doing the same.

"I can handle saving an entire world everyday but I can't handle seeing you in a dress?"

"No, you can't."

"What makes you so sure?"

At this, she leaned up and whispered in his ear.

"Because I'd look _great_ in a dress." She pulled away, waiting for his smart remark. However, he just chuckled.

"Somehow, I believe you," he said.

They both turned straight ahead, only to realize that they'd reached Penn's house. As Penn turned to walk towards his door, he stopped and turned back around to face Sashi.

"Penn?" she said curiously. "Is something wrong?"

"Sash?" he said. "I just want you to know something." He paused and she waited, listening intently. He took a deep breath before continuing.

"Boone told me about what you told him today when the two of you were captured by Rippen after you accidentally turned me into the Flurgle."

She looked down guiltily, remembering how they had almost failed that mission because of her.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Penn said, trying to lighten the mood. "For what it's worth, I was adorable."

She chuckled at that. "If you can call a hideous alien monstrosity adorable."

He smiled before turning serious again. "Sashi, how many missions have we gone on?"

She frowned at his question, counting them all off in her head.

"It was a rhetorical question," Penn said, chuckling awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry, should've been more clear on that. Anyways." He cleared his throat as he went on. "Think about how many missions we've gone on. How many victories we've had. How many worlds we've saved. How many of those wins did we get without you?"

Sashi thought about it, going through all the missions in her head and coming up blank.

"Every single time we won, we did it with your help. Boone and I have made so many mistakes. We've messed up so many times. But we had you, so everything still turned out fine in the end. Every time Boone and I mess up or fool around, it's always you who gets us back on track. It's always you who makes sure the mission gets done. It's always you who makes sure we save the world. You're always there for us when we need you, Sash. There's no shame in needing us to be there for you too. You're only human. An amazing and violent and scary human, but still a human."

He smiled gently. "I know your parents can't be proud of what they don't know. But us, me, Boone, and Phyllis, we _do_ know. Your parents aren't proud of you but we _are_. I know it's not the same thing and I understand if it isn't enough. But how many times would Rippen have won if it wasn't for you? How many worlds would he have ruined if it wasn't for you? Sashi, you save entire worlds everyday. If that's not something to be proud of, then what is?"

"Look, we're all going to mess up from time to time. It's okay. It happens to the best of us. And you _are_ the best of us. So the next time you mess up, don't think it's because you're not good enough. Because you're the best there is. Even Rippen thinks so."

"How does Rippen think so?!" she asked incredulously.

"He calls you the 'competent one' for a reason, Sash."

She laughed a little before looking up at Penn and smiling. It wasn't one of her confident smiles that she had when they won. It wasn't her evil smile that she wore before beating the crap out of enemies. It was genuine and happy and _normal_ and for a moment, Penn saw past the tough-as-nails sidekick he'd always had by his side to the kind-hearted and selfless girl she really was.

"Thanks, Penn," she said, her voice full of gratitude and emotion. Penn just smiled and turned around, waving as he walked toward the front door.

"Goodnight, Sash," he called out.

She waved tentatively at his retreating figure. "Goodnight, Penn," she said softly as the door closed behind him.

Sashi turned around and walked back towards her apartment. Most girls like her would be scared to walk alone at night but she was not most girls. She was more than capable of handling herself. Besides, Middleburg was a great place to live and she was sure that nothing bad would ever happen in her town. And even if it did, everything would be fine. After all, if anything bad ever _did_ happen, Penn would be there to save the day, Boone and her by his side.

Somewhere along the way back to her apartment, Sashi noticed that she felt lighter. She didn't feel guilty about today anymore and she realized just how right Penn was. Balancing two different lives was already hard enough but she saved entire worlds every day. It was okay to mess up because she knew that if she ever needed it, Penn and Boone would be there for her.

_'Like today,'_ she thought. She reached her apartment and walked in, careful not to make a sound. Her parents weren't home yet but George was sound asleep and she didn't want to wake him. As she took off her shoes, changed into her pajamas, and climbed into bed, she smiled. It might have been just another successful mission, but she couldn't help but feel a little proud of it. She closed her eyes and for once, she didn't think about what their next mission was going to be or what weird world they would go into tomorrow. That night, she just closed her eyes and let herself drift off into a deep, enjoyable sleep.


	2. Brainz Burgers

**Penn Zero Fanfiction**

**Brainz Burgers**

"Alright, now that we've saved the world again…" Penn looked at the form of Boone lying down on the ground, knocked out from Sashi's kick. As a zombie, he was pretty much invincible so her kick didn't hurt him all that much. But now that he was back to normal…

"Uhh, Sash?" Penn said after nudging Boone with his foot and getting no response. "Maybe you should hold back a bit next time. He's not a zombie anymore, you know."  
"So he felt that?" Sashi asked as she realized what that meant.

"Yeah," Penn answered.

She smiled in satisfaction. "Good". She turned her head up to the sky.

"PHYLLIS! ZAP US BACK!"

Suddenly, everything turned white as the feeling of gravity subsided. For a moment, they were just floating in white, before the brightness dimmed to reveal the theater and the familiar form of Phyllis, her face the same deadpan look she always wore.

"What happen to fat one?" she asked as their feet landed gently on the platform. Penn looked at Boone to see he hadn't moved at all from his position.

"Yeah, about that…" Penn began hesitantly.

"I kicked him," Sashi said nonchalantly. Phyllis raised an eyebrow.

"And?"  
"And he might be dead," Penn said. Phyllis frowned and came over from her place beside the giant contraption that passed them through the different worlds of the Multiverse. She took something out of her pocket and it flashed on. Then Boone's mom's voice rang out from the device.

"Boooooooooone! The meatloaf is ready!"

Faster than Penn could blink, Boone was already up on his feet and running straight ahead before his eyes even fully opened.

"Coming, Mooo-UWH!" His call was cut short as his face slammed straight into the doors of the theater. He slowly peeled it back and blinked as he regained his bearings.

"Uuuhhhh," he said as he looked around and seemed to remember where he was. "What happened?"

"I bring you back to life," Phyllis said, pocketing the device and pressing a button on her remote. A giant claw came out of the ceiling and lifted her up, carrying her back to the portal machine.

"Wait, I was dead?!" Boone exclaimed as he started panicking. "Am I a zombie now?!"

"Relax, you big baby," Sashi said, rolling her eyes at her partner and ignoring the irony in his words. "You _were_ a zombie. Phyllis cured you."

"Oh. Okay." Boone turned around, accepting her vague and, unbeknownst to him, completely false explanation and walked straight into the doors again. "Oh right, I gotta open them first." He opened the doors and walked out, Penn and Sashi following after him.

"Thank you, Phyllis, for saving fat friend after I kill him," Phyllis said sarcastically, shaking her head as she went back to tinkering.

Outside the theater, the three heroes prepared to part ways.

"Well, guess I'll see you guys tomorrow," Boone said as he waved to Penn and Sashi before turning around and heading home.

Sashi turned around to do the same but felt a hand on her shoulder stop her. She turned around to see Penn with a troubled look on his face.

"What's wrong, Penn?" she asked, concerned.

"Sashi, I need to talk to you about something important."

"Can it wait until tomorrow?" Sashi asked apologetically. "My relatives are coming over and my parents will be really mad if I don't show up on time."

"Fine, we'll just talk on the way there," Penn said, brushing past her. Her concern increased as she jogged to catch up to him.

"So what's up, PZ?" she asked.

"Sashi, you know you're a great sidekick, right? One of the best?"

Sashi's concern turned into confusion. "Uh, yeah?" she said, wondering where he was going with this.

"And you know that we couldn't have completed any of our missions without you, right?"

"Yeah?"

"So you know how important you are, right? Not just to us but to the Multiverse, too?"

"Penn, what are you trying to say?"

"Sashi why did you do that?"

"Do what?"  
"Why did you let yourself turn into a zombie to save me?"

Sashi looked at Penn as if he had just asked her the stupidest question on the planet. Which he had.

"What do you mean, why did I do it?" she said disbelievingly. "I did it to save you, why else?"

"Why would you do that just to save me?" he demanded.

"So that you could complete the mission," she said, stating the obvious.

"And what if I hadn't?" Penn turned to look at her, his face even more conflicted than it had been a second ago.

"Penn, I knew you could do it," Sashi reassured him, placing a hand gently on his shoulder. However, her faith in him only seemed to do more damage as he shook her hand off.

"What if I couldn't do it, Sash? What if I couldn't save you? What if you and Boone were stuck as mindless zombies forever, huh?"

"Penn, I knew you were never going to let that happen."

"But what if-"

"Just stop it, Penn," she said, now getting frustrated. "We won, okay? We saved the day. We beat Rippen like we do every time. It's a win for us. So can you stop asking 'what if this' or 'what if that' and just be happy? You did it."  
"I don't care if I did it, Sashi!" he said, his voice rising. "I care what would have happened to you if I _couldn't_ do it_._ I care what would have happened to you guys if I failed. That's what I care about."

"What do you want me to say, Penn? That if I could do it all over again, that I wouldn't save you?"  
"Yes! That's exactly what I want you to say!"

She stood still, looking at him in shocked silence.

"Why would I ever say that?"

This was so unlike the Penn she knew. His hands were clenched into fists. His eyes were bright with emotion, a mixture of sadness, anger, and worry. His teeth were clenched, his chest rising and falling as he breathed heavily. He closed his eyes and willed himself to calm down, trying to tame the storm of emotions raging inside of him. When he opened his eyes, they weren't shining anymore but were instead determined.

"Sashi, the Multiverse _needs_ heroes. The worlds _need_ saving. And if anything ever happens to me, the Multiverse is going to need _you._ _You_ need to step up and be the Hero. If anything ever happens to me, you're the one who has to take my place. Do you understand?"

Sashi looked at him for a moment, her face still frozen in that same shocked expression before it turned into anger.

"What I _understand_," she spat, "is that you're telling me not to lift a finger to help you when you need it."

Penn sighed. "No, Sash, you don't understand what I'm trying to-"  
"Then spit it out!" Sashi demanded, her voice taking on a venomous tone that didn't suit her. "What are you trying to say?!"

"I'm trying to say that you can't do things like that!"  
"WHY?!"  
"BECAUSE IT'S TOO DANGEROUS!" he screamed.

"So that's what this is really about," she said, realizing the real reason for this sudden outburst. "This isn't about the Multiverse needing heroes, this is about my job and what I do being _too dangerous. _Well, guess what, Penn? We save _entire worlds_ every day from a part-time piece of garbage who wants to _destroy_ them just so he can become a full-time piece of garbage! Of _course_ it's going to be dangerous. Didn't anyone bother to tell you that when you took this job?"

Penn paused, a deep, uncharacteristic rage rising in his eyes and for a moment, Sashi thought she might have crossed a line, although she didn't know what.

"I didn't _take_ this job," he said, his voice threateningly low. "I didn't _take_ anything. I got something _taken_ from me."

Suddenly, his anger and frustration vanished, leaving naked what he was really trying to hide. The hurt. The sadness. The loss that reminded him of all that he didn't have, no matter how hard he tried to forget it, even if only for a moment. Sashi looked at him and her heart ached. He was always so cheerful and happy and goofy that sometimes she forgot what he was really going through. Although he hid his pain very well from the outside world, she could see it clearly now, like an open wound slicing across his whole body, all the pain and anguish and hurt bleeding out of him.

"My _parents_ were taken from me," he went on, choking out the words. "My chance at a normal life was taken from me." He looked up at her and his eyes were full of a deep sadness that shouldn't have been there. There was a loss and tiredness in them that shouldn't have been present in someone so young. "I was walking to school the other day and I passed by a family on my way. A mom and dad and their son. He was little, maybe three or four. The dad was carrying him on his shoulders and spinning him around and acting goofy and the boy was laughing so hard. And when I was watching them, I remembered how my mom and dad used to do that with me. How I used to be that little boy, riding on his dad's shoulders and laughing like he was and feeling like that was the highest place in the world. Because back then, it was." He paused and, despite his best efforts, a sob shook his body. "I had _that_ taken away from me."

At some point, it had started raining and the rain blended with Penn's tears as they dripped down his face. He pushed the wet strands of hair out of his eyes as he looked her with a stare that bore into her.

"Sashi, I haven't been a hero for very long, but I've already lost a lot. You and Boone are the only ones helping me through this. And today, I almost lost you guys too." He stepped closer, his eyes never leaving hers, even as she tried to look away. "Sashi, I get that this job needs us to sacrifice things sometimes. But that doesn't mean we should sacrifice ourselves. I almost lost you guys today. What if I'd failed? What if you guys were stuck like that forever? Sashi, how could I live with that?" She turned away from him, unable to look into his pleading eyes.

He grabbed her shoulders and turned her back towards him. "Sashi, if something like that ever happens again, promise me that you'll do whatever it takes to complete the mission, with or without me. Please, Sash. Promise me."

He pleaded with her, his eyes begging her to say 'yes'. And seeing his desperation, she almost did. Almost.

Without warning, Sashi roughly pushed him away.

"No," she said. "No, I'll never promise that."

"Sashi-"

"NO!" Sashi cut him off. "All you're thinking about is your own feelings. What about mine? You keep saying you can't live with losing us. What makes you think I'm any different?"

Penn stared at her, trying to think of something to say but unable to think of anything. He was caught off-guard by the vulnerability in her voice. At that moment, her 'tough girl' facade crumbled away and Penn got his first look at the real Sashi and it shocked him.

"I was always different from the other kids," she said. "They all lived their normal lives but I was training to save the world. And I knew that if I wanted to be good enough, I was going to have to be tough. So I started acting mean and hitting everyone. People started to keep their distance from me. And how could I blame them? I hurt everyone around me for no reason. Who wants a friend like that? Even Boone was like that when we first met. He didn't want to be around me. I thought you would be like that too, but you weren't."

She looked him in the eyes and the pain in them was gone, replaced by an emotion he couldn't quite figure out. "You didn't let me push you away. You stayed by my side, even when I didn't want you there. You tried to be my friend, even though I told you I didn't need one. But I did." The emotion in her eyes grew. "I was so lonely and I didn't even know it until you showed me. And because of you, I finally learned how to let people in. I learned how to be a better person. And because of that, Boone let me in too. You two became my best and only friends. It wasn't much but it was more than I could have ever hoped for. I'm happy with my life and it's all thanks to you. I needed you and you were there for me. And now you're telling me not to be there for you?"

"Sashi, I'm not telling you not to be there for me," Penn said gently. "I'm just trying to tell you that you shouldn't do what you did today."

"But why, Penn?" Sashi demanded. "If I hadn't jumped in front of you, you would have turned into a zombie. I saw what that did to Boone. I wasn't gonna let that happen to you, too."

"But you're going to let it happen to you?!"

"If that's what it takes."  
"And that's why you're wrong!" Penn said, his anger returning. "It's wrong for you to do that to yourself for me. You'll do whatever it takes to make sure I complete the mission without thinking about what happens to you. Look, I get that you want to be a good Sidekick, but destroying yourself to save me ISN'T YOUR JOB!"

Sashi stood there, dumbfounded at how little he really understood her. "My job?" she managed to say.

"YES," Penn said, his arms crossed and his eyes burning with an angry fire as he looked at her.

"You think I did it because it's my job?" she said. At the puzzled look on Penn's face, Sashi scoffed disbelievingly.

"I didn't turn myself into a zombie to save your life just because it's my _job_."

He blinked in confusion. "But then why did you do it?"

"BECAUSE I-"

She stopped herself before she could finish, breathing deeply for a moment to calm herself down. When she spoke again, her voice was much softer. "Because I care what happens to you." She said, looking away. "Stupid."

Penn stood there in shocked silence, his mouth open in an "O" as he processed what she had just said.

"I don't care what my job is, Penn. I saved your life because I wanted to and I'd do it again if I had to. Because that's what friends do. It's what you would do. It's what Boone would… Actually, that last one's not true. He'd probably run. But you wouldn't. And you wouldn't care about the mission either. You might say the most important thing is to complete the mission but you know that's not true. If it were me you needed to save, you'd do the same thing. If you still think I'm wrong, then tell me you wouldn't do the same. Tell me."

Penn opened his mouth to protest but she cut him off. "Tell me," she demanded.

"I-" Penn began. "I can't."

She walked up to him and got right up in his face. "I'm not going to apologize for saving your life. If you don't like it, then get a new Sidekick. Find someone who doesn't care about you Penn, because I do." She lowered her eyes. "I do."

With that, she turned around to leave but Penn grabbed her wrist, stopping her. He was sure she would pull away, kick him harder than she did Boone, bite his hand off, anything, but she didn't. She only stopped, letting him pull her back to him.

"I'm sorry, Sash," he said sincerely. "I really am. It's just…" He let her go and pushed his soaking wet hair out of his eyes as he tried to find the words. "Sashi, I just don't wanna lose you."

Sashi smiled, looking uncharacteristically gentle. "You'll never lose me, Penn," she said confidently.

"How can you be so sure?" he asked.

"Because you're Penn Zero. And you'll never let me down." She said it with such confidence and certainty that he found himself believing her.

With that, she turned around to walk back to her apartment.

"You know, Sash, if you'd just listen to me a little more, my life would be so much easier," he said, just loud enough for her to hear.

"Where's the fun in that?" she called out playfully behind her.

"You're a terrible Sidekick!" he called out after her.

"I'm still the best you're gonna get!" she shot back.

He smiled. "I couldn't imagine a better one," he said softly.

And with that, he turned to walk back to his own house. He hadn't noticed that it had stopped raining and as the sun started to peak out from behind the clouds, his mood lifted a little. Yeah, sometimes there were close calls. In this line of work, there always would be. But he wasn't alone. He had two amazing friends with him every step of the way. Besides, Sashi was right. He was Penn Zero. His parents were heralded as some of the greatest Part-Time Heroes of all time. If anyone was capable of overcoming harsh odds, it was him. And he _would_ overcome them. Whether it was for the mission, for his parents, or for Boone and Sashi, he would do whatever it took. After all, that's what heroes do.


	3. Day Off (Part 1)

**Penn Zero Fanfiction**

**Author's Note**

**Remember how I said I would include chapters showing their lives outside of being heroes? This is what I meant.**

**Honestly, I'm not really sure I like this chapter. I did my best and the majority of it turned out okay, but I don't think it was as good as it could have been. However, for the people who view my work, I shouldn't have taken this long with this chapter in the first place. It's just that with my other chapters, it was just moments. This is an entire thing all by itself and there's a lot more than just a moment, which made it significantly harder to write, so if you can forgive me for that, I promise I'll try to finish these faster from now on.**

**On a side note, I really liked Penn as a character, but I kind of feel like the show didn't really show many of his skills. Boone was kind of the crazy idea guy whose ideas just kind of worked out and Sashi's skills were shown in almost every episode. But there were some parts where Penn showed combat skills and rather than show more of this, it was almost never seen again for the rest of the show. I wanted to make a chapter where he got to show that a bit more. After all, he didn't survive his entire Part-Time Hero career without knowing _something_. There's going to be a second part to this too but I'm uploading this first because if I added the rest of it in, it would just be too long. Please tell your friends about this show. It is really underrated. Also, my fanfiction might get more views that way.**

**Still hoping for reviews and writing tips, guys. Seriously. I would love some. Anyways, I hope you guys (and girls) enjoy. I'll stop talking now. Bye!**

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**Day Off (Part 1)**

"So how are we going to give the cake to Rippen without him getting suspicious?" Penn asked the other two as they walked to the theater. "The whole class hates him-"

"Rightfully so," Sashi interrupted.

"-so there's no way we can give it to him on their behalf," he went on as if she hadn't spoken.

"Why are we doing this again?" Boone asked.

"Because it's justice-" For fun-" Penn and Sashi said at the same time. Penn looked at Sashi with an irritated look.

"What?" she said. "You're telling me you're not going to enjoy it even a little bit?"

At this, Penn was silent. Sashi smirked in triumph. "Thought so," she said smugly. Penn rolled his eyes and continued walking.

"So, back to the matter at hand," he said, trying to steer everyone's focus back to the main issue. "How are we going to get him to eat the cake?"

"What if we gave it to him on behalf of the teachers?" Sashi asked. "Teachers give each other junk all the time."

"I think you mean presents, Sash," Penn corrected her.

"Do they spend money on it?" she asked.

"Yeah," Penn answered.

"Do they want it for themselves?"

"No," Penn said.

"So do they get rid of it?"

"In a way, yeah."

"So it's junk."

"Why do I bother?" Penn said exasperatedly. "And anyway, the teachers hate him too."

"Rightfully so," Sashi added.

"You know, we could just give the cake to him and say it was from Larry," Boone suggested.

Penn and Sashi gaped at him.

"What?" Boone said with a confused look on his face.

"Boone, you're a genius!" Sashi exclaimed.

"You guys know I'm the Wiseman, right?" he said, just slightly offended even as he made a mental note to record Sashi the next time she said that.

Penn and Sashi ignored him, going back to talking with each other on how to make the cake as awful as possible, with Penn saying no to her more violent options every now and then, like poisonous frosting or animal blood.

Just then, the trio reached the theater. They were about to go inside when they noticed the sign hanging on the front.

"Multiverse in balance, heroes are competent for today, enjoy day off," Penn read. "Huh. Looks like we have a day off."

"Really?" said Boone and Sashi at the same time.

"Yeah," Penn said, hardly able to believe it himself. "Guess we don't have to save the world today."

"Finally," said Sashi. Penn and Boone stared at her. "What?" she said defensively.

"I thought you liked this job," Penn said. "You know, all the punching and kicking?"

"I do," she said shamelessly. "But for once, the real heroes actually do their job. I mean, I like the fighting and all, but at the end of the day, we're still just cleaning up other people's messes 'cause they can't do it themselves."

The three of them looked at each other.

"Sooo, what should we do now?" Boone asked.

"Go home, I guess," Penn said.

"_Or,_" Sashi interrupted, "we could go back to trying to poison Rippen," she said excitedly.

Penn and Boone gave her a deadpan look, causing her to scoff.

"Fine," she said. "You guys are no fun."

"Define fun," Penn said sarcastically. Sashi opened her mouth to answer. "Actually, don't," he interrupted her, regretting having asked in the first place.

"Well, I'm going home," Boone said as he turned around to leave. "See you guys."  
Penn and Sashi waved at him as he left before they both went their separate ways.

Penn laid in bed, staring up at the ceiling in boredom, partly because he had nothing better to do and partly because he was avoiding the chinchilla. He frowned in annoyance at the very thought of the little rodent. He didn't know what he had done, but the rat had it out for him. Penn probably would have done something about it if not for the fact that it was like a son to Uncle Chuck and Aunt Rose and whatever he did to the rodent probably would have hurt them more than it hurt him.

Suddenly, his phone rang. He debated on whether or not it was worth getting up out of bed to go answer it, then sighed as he got up. He picked it up and the Caller ID showed it was Sashi. He was suddenly glad he'd gotten up to answer. If he hadn't, she would've immediately came over to either save him from whatever was trying to kill him or to kill him herself for not picking up. He shuddered at the thought before answering.

"Hey, Sash," he greeted her.

"You busy?" she said, not wasting a second in getting to her point.

"No, why?" he asked.

"There's a karate tournament happening," she said. "I'm signing us up."  
"Whoa, wait," Penn said. "Why are you signing us both up?"

"You said you weren't busy," she said.

"I'm not," he said. "But why do you need me to come? Why can't you just go by yourself?"  
"Because it's in teams, stupid," she said as if he was supposed to know that already. "Believe me, if solo was an option, I'd already be there."

"Fine," he said, sighing.

"I'll text you the address," she said. "Don't be late."  
With that, she hung up. Barely a second after, he got a text, complete with the address, time, and a complete list of all the rules.

_'That was fast,'_ Penn thought.

It was mid-afternoon when Penn arrived at the address he'd gotten from Sashi, wearing a white t-shirt and black track pants with white stripes. He scanned the crowd, his trained Part-Time Hero eyes skimming over everyone quickly as he looked for his partner.

"You look like a wimp," said a voice from behind him. Penn looked to see Sashi in a simple black half-sleeved t-shirt and matching black knee-length.

"Nice to see you too, Sash," Penn said, completely unfazed.

"There's twenty minutes until the tournament starts," Sashi said. "They're gonna take attendance to make sure everyone's here, then we'll have the rest of the time to practice. Let's go."

Penn followed her into the building where there was a crowd of other people, all wearing some kind of uniform. There was also an adult with each of them.

"Hey, Sash?" Penn said as he leaned over and tapped her on the shoulder.

"What?" Sashi said as she continued to lead him through the crowd.

"Aren't all these people from dojos across the country?" he asked.

"Yeah, she answered.

"So then isn't this a dojo-only event?"  
"No," she said. "Other people are allowed into the tournament, but they have to be sponsored."

"But we aren't sponsored," Penn said.

"I know."

"And this is a national competition."  
"I know."

"So then how come we're allowed in?"

"My parents pulled some strings," she said as if that explained everything.

"How did your parents just _pull some strings_ and get us into a _national competition_?!" he asked disbelievingly.

Sashi turned around and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him down so that he was eye level with her.

"You ask too many questions," she said, her voice low and threatening. Penn's heart rate quickened and he held his breath. Sashi stared menacingly at him before letting him go. Penn sucked in a deep breath, rubbing at his neck where the collar had squeezed before he followed her.

"My parents have their connections," she said to him without turning around. "That's all you need to know."

"Again with the 'need-to-know' stuff, huh?" he said, becoming angry.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sashi said turning around to face him.

Penn sighed. "Just forget it," he said, moving to walk past her. "Let's just go."  
Sashi grabbed his arm and pulled him back so that he was standing in front of her again.

"You got something you wanna say to me?" she said, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

Penn ripped his arm out of her grasp. "Yeah, I do," he said. "We've worked together for more than a year now, Sash. We've saved worlds, defeated monsters, beat Rippen again and again, and I still don't know anything about you."

"So?"

"So why do I still feel like a stranger to you, Sash? Why do me and Boone still not know you at all? Why do you treat us like we're just coworkers and nothing more?"  
"Because that's _exactly what you are_," Sashi said.

As soon as she said it, she knew she had gone too far. Penn stared at her, his eyes full of hurt.

"What?" Sashi said defensively.

Then Penn's eyes hardened and somewhere in the back of Sashi's mind, she couldn't help but think that she had messed up really, really bad.

"Nothing," he said, his tone suddenly lacking any of the warmth or friendliness it usually held when he was talking to her. "They're taking attendance. We better hurry up or we're gonna be late."

He walked by her without another word. Sashi stood there, wondering why she had done that. She could see that she had hurt Penn's feelings, and badly. She couldn't understand why she had done that. She would never have treated Penn that way, so why did she do it now?

"Hurry up," Penn said from behind her, his voice uncharacteristically cold. She followed him and they made their way over to a man holding a clipboard.

"Name and team," he said, his words carrying a light Japanese accent.

"Penn Zero and Sashi Kobayashi, team Part-Time Heroes," Sashi answered. The man checked off a box and nodded his head to a room behind him.

"Ten minutes practice, then tournament starts," he said. The two heroes nodded and made their way over to the room, Penn walking a little bit ahead of her. Sashi sometimes forgot how much taller he was and she wondered how she ever kept pace with him. Then again, he did usually walk at a snail's pace most of the time.

As they entered the room, they found all kinds of training equipment everywhere. The quantity and variety surprised even Sashi, and she had been in Sidekick School. Sure, it didn't come close to matching the stuff there, but it was better than anything she had seen anywhere else. And she had been almost everywhere else. Sashi looked around for Penn, wanting to ask him what he wanted to warm up with, only to find that he was gone. She looked around, but he was nowhere to be seen. She considered looking for him but decided that after what she had said to him, it would be best if he had some space.

_'From you,'_ said a voice in her head. She forcefully shut it up and went over to one of the dummies and started practicing

Penn, meanwhile, had gone for a walk, trying to cool off and calm himself.

He didn't fully understand Sashi. That was really the only thing he knew for sure when it came to her. She was a mystery. Yeah, sometimes he did things that made her angry without meaning to. He understood that. But he always tried to be nice to her, and it wasn't just because he was afraid of what she might do to him. She had been alone when he had first met her. His parents had always told him that he had a talent for connecting with people because he could see past the mask they put on to who they were underneath. He could connect with people because he understood them. But as hard as he tried, he couldn't understand why Sashi had said what she had said. After all that they'd been through, he thought he had at least earned her friendship, but after their fight, it only showed him too clearly what he could already see, that he didn't know her at all.

"Is there something on your mind?" said a voice from beside him. Penn turned to see a boy a little older than him leaning against the wall and looking at him. Penn stared before realizing that he had been talking to him.

"Oh, no I'm fine," he said a little too quickly, something that failed to escape the boy's notice.

"You don't seem focused," the boy said. "This is a national competition. If you're not focused, it could cost you your victory."

"Isn't that a good thing for you?" Penn said sardonically. At the boy's reaction, Penn mentally kicked himself. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "I didn't mean that. You're only trying to be nice and I'm being angry at the wrong person."

"It sounds like you two have that in common," the boy said. Penn looked at him peculiarly and the boy elaborated. "Whoever you had a fight with," he said.

"How did you know I had a fight with someone?" Penn asked.

"I guessed," the boy said. "When someone has a fight they win, they look proud. When they have a fight they lose, they look ashamed. When they have a fight with someone they care about, they look angry or hurt."

"So what do I look like?" Penn asked.

"Hurt," the boy answered.

Penn sighed.

"I am willing to listen if you are willing to talk," the boy offered.

"I just met you," Penn said.

"And you will probably never see me again," the boy countered. "If the matter is private or personal, no one you know will ever hear of it. And I will probably forget about you by tomorrow, as you will forget about me. So there is no harm in talking about it. I am merely saying that it is better to simply get it off your chest."

Penn thought for a moment before sighing. "I had a fight with a-" he hesitated. "With someone I know well. Well, actually I don't know her that well. I don't know her at all, really. Because if I did, then that means we'd be friends, and she basically just told me we weren't."

"If I may ask, how do you know this person?" the boy asked.

"We…" Penn thought about how he should explain it. He couldn't tell the boy their real jobs. He tried to think of a way to tell him without sounding weird or insane.

"We work closely together," he said finally.

"Is that all?" the boy asked.

"Well," Penn said, trying to think of how to tell him more without sounding like a lunatic. Then he sighed and said, "I thought that after working together for so long, that maybe we were friends."

"So you are upset to find out that that is not true?" the boy said.

"Yeah," Penn said, sighing again and rubbing the back of his neck, an odd habit he'd picked up from his parents.

"Would this by any chance be the pretty girl you came here with?"

"You mean Sashi?" Penn said. "Yeah."

"Hm," the boy said, rubbing his chin, noting how Penn hadn't denied she was pretty. "Was she the one who invited you to participate in the tournament with her?" he asked.

"Well, she didn't really have a choice," Penn said. "The competition is in teams and she didn't really have anyone else she could ask."

"It is not necessary to have a team," the boy said, the gears turning in his head as he figured out what was really going on between the two, even as Penn remained oblivious.

"It's not?" Penn said.

"No," the boy answered. "It is just more ideal to have a team but there are numerous sponsored solo fighters who came to the competition as well. The solo fighters have their own special tournament and the teams have their own special tournament and then the champion of both of those tournaments fights for the prize. While being on a team is recommended, it is not required."

"But then why would she invite me here?" Penn asked as if this boy knew Sashi better than he did, which he found himself believing more and more.

The boy smiled knowingly. "I believe that's what friends do when they want to spend more time with each other."

Penn stared at the boy, dumbfounded.

"Is this Sashi a very open person?" the boy asked him. Penn shook his head. "Does she have many friends?" Penn shook his head again. The boy paused for a second. "Does she trust you?" he asked, sounding more serious. Penn thought for a moment before nodding his head, his mind flashing back to the conversation they'd had right after they had averted a zombie apocalypse.

_'Penn, I knew you could do it.'_

"This Sashi is not used to trusting people the way that she trusts you," the boy went on, pulling Penn out of his thoughts. "She does not let people in easily because they might leave her. She thought you were getting too close so she pushed you away to protect herself."

"But why?" Penn said. "I thought you said she trusted me."

"She does," the boy assured him. "Of this, I have no doubt."

"So then why won't she let me in?"

"Because she is afraid you will leave her."

"But I'd never do that," Penn said.

"So show her that," the boy said.

"How?" Penn asked.

"She came with a partner, did she not?" the boy asked, a small smile on his lips. Penn nodded. "Then go show her she still has one."

"What if she doesn't want to see me right now?" he said. "What if I hurt our friendship too much?"

"From what you've told me and my own personal experiences, you haven't hurt your friendship," the boy assured him. "She did. And if she really is your friend, then she will see that. If not…" he trailed off.

"If not?" Penn said, urging him to continue.

"If not," the boy went on, "then maybe it's time you found a friend in someone else."

Penn pondered the boy's words. The thought of losing Sashi's friendship made him sad, especially since he knew how alone she had been before he met her. He couldn't help but think that if he walked away from her, he would only be proving that she was right not to let him in. But he couldn't deny that this boy was right. No matter how he looked at it or what Sashi might say, he didn't deserve that treatment from her, and as much as he liked what the two shared, the banter, the teamwork, the trust, it wasn't worth being made to feel like that.

But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that no one was perfect. Sashi, like him and Boone, had her flaws, and like him and Boone, he couldn't change her or ask her to be someone she wasn't. But if you really are a friend, you accept someone for who they are, flaws and all. Sure, she might not always be nice to him, but she had been there for him every time it mattered. So he couldn't call himself a friend if he didn't do the same for her now.

"Thanks," Penn said to the boy. "But I won't need to go looking for another friend."

"What makes you so sure?" the boy asked, although he was smiling.

"Because I already have one," Penn answered confidently. "And she's waiting for me and the tournament's about to start so I have to go now," he added hurriedly as he started walking away. "It was nice meeting you. Thanks for the talk!" The boy smiled in satisfaction before turning around and going his own way.

"Young love is a beautiful thing," he said to himself.

Penn got back just as the tournament was starting. As the competitors were all making their way out of the training room, Penn found Sashi in the crowd, looking dejected. She turned as he caught up to her.

"Penn!" she said in surprise.

"Hey, Sash," he said, panting a little. "Sorry, I'm late."

"I thought you left," she said.

"I couldn't leave," Penn told her.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because then I wouldn't be a good sidekick," he said, smiling at his own bad joke. She laughed anyway before turning serious as she looked at him.

"Penn, I didn't mean-"

"Let's just focus on winning for now, Sash," Penn interrupted "We can talk about it later. I know how much you want to win this thing. So let's win first."

Sashi nodded and smiled before she steeled herself as they walked out of the building and climbed a bus.

"Where are we going?" Penn asked her.

"To the stadium," Sashi answered simply. Penn looked at her in disbelief. "It's a national competition, remember?" she said.

"How did I forget that?" he said, shaking his head and leaning back in his seat.


	4. Day Off (Part 2)

**Penn Zero Fanfiction**

**Author's Note**

**Okay, so a couple of things. First of all, I make awful life decisions. I should have started in the summer when I had all the time in the world. Instead, I started off during March Break and now that school has started, I have to juggle those responsibilities with these ones. If you're reading this, then only make commitments you can keep.**

**Second, I do not like how this chapter turned out at all. It is so much harder writing out an entire plot rather than a single moment. I'm actually reconsidering this whole idea of even including these 'original works' in the story at all. While they do help improve my writing skills, I also want to make this stuff good for you guys and I think that sometimes I don't do that. Anyways, let me know if I should keep doing this or not because I seriously can't decide.**

**Third, I had to split the parts again because this is turning out _so much longer_ than I originally wanted it to. I am going to write up the final part to this as fast as I can but like I said, awful life decisions. Hopefully, when I get back to writing the moments, I can get it done faster while at the same time not sacrificing quality but I seriously need you guys to tell me how I'm doing so that I can decide whether I should even continue to do this or not.**

**Anyways, enough of my endless talking. I hope you guys enjoy but let me know if this is bad. I'm sort of testing out this idea so if I can get some feedback on how I can improve this, later on, that would be great. Enjoy!**

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**Day Off (Part 2)**

The bus finally stopped after a long drive and the people filed out slowly. Penn looked around him at the huge crowd that had come to see the tournament. He had never been to an event this big in his whole life. Being a spectator was already more than he could imagine. But being a part of it? It was all so surreal to him that he was having a hard time convincing himself that it was actually happening.

His heart was racing in his chest and he tried to breathe to calm himself down. He had never been under this much pressure in his life. It was different from his missions as a Part-Time Hero. This wasn't the same as a fear of failure. He was so nervous and so anxious, but also so excited at the same time, and this only seemed to increase the more he thought about just what he had gotten himself into.

Suddenly, someone grabbed his arm and shook it. He looked to see Sashi looking at him worriedly.

"You okay, PZ?" she asked.

"I'm fine, Sash, don't worry," Penn said, smiling reassuringly before his smile turned into a grin. "I've just never been to something as big as this before."

"Me neither," she said, grinning back.

"This is so cool," he said. "I kinda feel like I should've dressed better."

This earned a small laugh from Sashi. "Don't worry, Penn, we look fine."

He looked around. "Where are the other fighters?" he asked, scanning the crowd, trying to find something that didn't look like a uniform and having no luck. Sashi tried looking around too but she was much shorter than Penn and even he couldn't see past most people's heads. He caught her trying to look over the crowd and laughed at the sight. She looked at him in confusion and it took her a moment before she realized what he found so funny.

"Hey!" she said. Penn looked to see her frowning and crossing her arms. She might have looked angry if not for the light blush on her face.

"You could at least help, you know," she said.

"Okay," Penn said, still chuckling. He thought for a moment. "How?"

She rolled her eyes. "Lift me up so I can see over their fat heads, stupid."

"Oh," Penn said. "Okay." He turned around and knelt down so that Sashi could climb onto his shoulders. After making sure that she was in no danger of falling, he stood up to his full height, Sashi on his shoulders, scanning the crowd.

"There!" she said, pointing in a direction he couldn't see.

"Uh, Sash?" he said.

"What?"

"I can't see where you're pointing," he told her.

"Oh," she said, sounding embarrassed. "Right."  
Suddenly, she yanked on his hair, making him stumble forward.

"OW!" he yelled at the sudden pain. "Sashi, what are you-"

"I'm guiding you," she said. "Whichever way I pull your hair is the way you go."

"_Or_, you could just _tell me,_" he pointed out.

"Nah," she said. "This is way more fun." She yanked his hair to the right, causing him to lean and turn. "And much more effective."

Penn followed Sashi's lead, doing his best to avoid her having to pull his hair to steer him back in the right direction.

After a few more hair-pulls and some very weird looks from the people around them, Penn and Sashi reached a group of people that weren't dressed in any uniforms. They wore either track pants or sweatpants along with a t-shirt, although some had opted for a tank top instead.

Penn put Sashi on the ground and they both walked over to the sponsored teams. Penn looked at Sashi to see a very happy smile on her face. His eyebrow twitched in annoyance but he held back on saying anything as they reached the crowd.

"You ready for this, PZ?" Sashi asked from beside him. Penn turned to answer and noticed that she was just as nervous as he was.

"Yeah," he answered. "Are you?"

She nodded, smiling sheepishly as the group started moving.

They were led around the entrance of the stadium to a side door. They went through and found themselves in a big room. Their guide turned around and addressed the competitors.

"As you know, the sponsored teams, dojos, and solo fighters will all fight to make it to the finals. Once there, one fighter from each team will fight another fighter from the other team for first, second, and third place. Remember the rules. If you break any of them, you will be disqualified immediately. Understood?"

The fighters said 'yes' and the man nodded and left.

"So what are the rules?" Sashi asked Penn after the man was gone.

"I don't know," Penn said, shrugging his shoulders.

"No eye gouging, no hair pulling, no internal or serious injuries, and no concussions," someone answered. Penn and Sashi turned to see a boy a little older than them. Penn recognized him as the same guy he'd talked to after his fight with Sashi.

"Thanks," Penn said, chuckling in embarrassment. "Hey, I didn't get your name before," he said.

"My name is Salaak," the boy said as he and Penn shook his hands. "What is yours?"

"I'm Penn," he said, introducing himself. "This is Sashi," he said, turning to her.

"Hi," Sashi said guardedly. "You two know each other?"

"Not really," Penn said. "I met him when I went to take a walk after you and I…" he trailed off, and Sashi felt a pang of guilt when she realized what he was talking about. Then she remembered how Penn had immediately come back in a much better mood and how he had been so determined to help her. She wondered what this guy had said. Whatever it was, she was thankful for it.

"Anyways," Penn said. "Salaak, I didn't know you were part of the sponsored teams."

"I am," Salaak said. "I am from a dojo in Pakistan. My uncle lives here and owns a company. He sent word to my parents in Pakistan about the tournament. They asked if I could go to see the competition but my uncle said he could sponsor me to participate if I wanted to. So here I am."

"Wow," Penn said. "Your English is really good."

"Thank you," Salaak said. "I travel a lot for my studies so I speak many languages."

"What's your fighting style?" Sashi asked.

"Capoeira," Salaak answered. At this new knowledge, Sashi immediately grew nervous. From how comfortable he looked, even around all these other highly skilled fighters, Sashi had already deduced that he had to be seriously good. But Capoeira was one of the most unorthodox and unpredictable martial arts she knew of. It was very hard to master but once you did, it made you a very dangerous fighter.

"Ah, so you know of it," Salaak said, noticing the look on Sashi's face.

"I don't," Penn said. "What's it like?"

Suddenly, the announcer's voice came on over the speakers.

"You'll see," was all Salaak said, smiling confidently.

Sashi pulled Penn aside as the other participants moved toward the entrance to the stadium in preparation for being called out to fight.

"Penn, listen," Sashi said seriously, looking cautiously at Salaak as he moved with the crowd.

"What is it, Sash?" he said.

"He's good," Sashi said. "Really good. Even I'm nervous to go up against him in a fight."

Penn looked at her in shock. _Sashi_ of all people was scared of this guy?! He looked back at Salaak and for the first time since he got there, he noticed it.

Salaak didn't hold his head up high like some of the more confident fighters, but he wasn't nervous like some of the more inexperienced ones either. But that wasn't what caught Penn's attention.

The guy didn't radiate any tension _at all._ He was completely relaxed. This was a national competition between some of the best dojos in the country. And some fighters had come from all across the world, probably with the best training their country had to offer. And knowing all that, Salaak was _completely relaxed._

_'He's not just good,'_ Penn realized. It didn't matter how good you were. Any smart fighter knew that in any fight, there was always something that could catch you off guard, which was why he knew that no matter how good the confident fighters were, they weren't going to make it to the finals. He'd be surprised if they even made it to the quarterfinals. They had always fought opponents with inferior talent. If you weren't quick to think on your feet and find a way to outsmart your opponent, your loss was all but assured.

But Salaak wasn't confident like they were. He was on-guard, watchful of anything that could catch him off guard or anyone that was stronger than him. But he still wasn't nervous. It could only mean that he'd beaten those odds before. Not only that, but the fact that he was so relaxed meant that he was probably used to fighting stronger opponents.

Salaak was skilled. Even Penn could tell that much. But there's always someone better. And if that didn't scare Salaak, it was because he was confident he would find a way to beat them anyways.

He wasn't just good. He was _smart._ Which meant pitting him against Sashi would be the worst possible thing to do. She was the most skilled fighter he knew, second only to his own parents, but she wasn't a strategist. Salaak would be quick to figure out a way to defeat her. Penn could see it clearly now. That look in his eyes. He was always analyzing. Sizing people up. Deducing. Simulating. Countering. Winning. Even before the fight began. This guy would _not_ go down easy.

_'If he goes down at all,'_ Penn thought nervously.

Sashi saw the realization dawn on Penn's face as the first two teams from the dojos were called up. Everyone filed out of the room and made their way to the front row of seats and sat down on the floor so as not to block the view of any of the other people.

"Sashi, I want you to let me go up against Salaak," Penn said.

"What?!" Sashi looked at him incredulously, only to find a focused and deadly serious look on his face.

_'He's not joking about this,'_ she realized.

"I know what you're thinking, Sash, but I know what I'm doing," he said. "Just trust me, okay?"

"Penn, I really-"

_"Trust me."_

Sashi hesitated. It wasn't that she didn't think he could do it. Far from it. She had seen the few times he had shown his skills on their missions and even she didn't know the full scope of his abilities yet. She didn't doubt that he could take on most of the competition. After all, he wasn't a Hero for nothing. She was just worried about Salaak, and a select few other fighters she had seen earlier. They were strong. Really strong. And as good as Penn was, he just wasn't trained for fighting the way she was. He wasn't even trained at all. Not only that, but she wasn't sure his underweight, ninety-pound body could take that much damage, and he'd have to fight one opponent after the other, too.

_'Just don't get hurt, Penn,'_ she almost said out loud.

"Okay," she said instead. Penn smiled a little before he turned back to see the two fighters stepping into the ring in the center of the stadium. The other two fighters waited right outside, ready to tag in at a moment's notice.

The announcer introduced the two teams, one from a dojo a bit up north, the other from a city close to Middleburg. It didn't escape Sashi's notice that both of these dojos were listed as part of the Top 10 dojos in the country in every major source she knew of. They had always been close in the rankings. She realized how big this was for them. They were finally going to see which one of them was superior, once and for all.

The crowd went silent. She watched with bated breath as the fighters stepped into the ring. The referee counted down as the match was about to start, holding his hand up, ready to signal the fighters to start. Every second felt like an eternity. When he was at 'one', he held his hand up in the air, looking at both sides to see if they were ready.

_'Just START,'_ Sashi silently begged.

The entire audience was quiet. Sashi could sense the anticipation from them. Even Penn, who hadn't really been interested in this at the beginning, held his breath as he watched the ring intensely.

Suddenly, the referee brought his hand down and quickly got out of the ring as the two fighters charged at each other.

The one wearing the red uniform from the dojo up north aimed a kick at the other one's midsection but the one wearing the blue uniform grabbed his leg and used it to throw him across the floor. The red one quickly recovered and got into his stance as the blue one charged. Red dodged to the side as Blue came at him, retreating to the corner of the ring. Blue followed him but Red dodged again and closed in on Blue while he was still in the corner. However, Blue grabbed the sides of the ring and lifted himself up. He kicked Red in the chest with both legs, sending him stumbling back. Blue advanced and aimed a push kick to Red's stomach but Red dodged. However, Blue spun and kicked him across the face, making him spin twice before falling to the ground. Even then, Red quickly recovered and got up. Blue aimed a roundhouse kick to the side of his face but Red ducked and knocked his other leg out from under him. But instead of falling, Blue somehow twisted in mid-air and managed to land on his feet in a cat's crouch on all fours, facing Red. As Red moved forward, Blue, in one fluid motion, rose up and did a backflip, landing a hard kick against the bottom of Red's jaw, knocking him back against the ropes of the ring, stunning him. As Blue advanced, Red caught him off-guard by headbutting him as he closed the distance. Not wasting another second, Red advanced and slammed a hard kick into Blue's stomach, pushing him back. He advanced, not giving Blue any time to recover as he punched him hard across the jaw. He grabbed Blue's head and brought it down to his knee but Blue used his hands to block the oncoming blow. He pushed Red away but Red used the backward moment to do a backflip and land a hard kick to Blue's face, mimicking his earlier move. Unlike Blue, he was much faster, and he rushed and smashed his fist into Blue's stomach, making him double over. He smashed an uppercut into Blue's face, causing him to stumble back. As Blue tried to stay standing, Red ran and jumped, stepping off of Blue's chest and doing another backflip, kicking him in the face and sending him flying over the ropes and out of the ring. He landed on the ground, groaning as he tried to get up before realizing that the fight was over and he'd been forced out of the ring and giving up. His teammate came over to him to see if he was okay. After helping him up and making sure he got back to the rest of the team, he went back and stepped into the ring for the second round. The guy in the red got out of the ring, his steps a little unsteady after his fight with his opponent. His teammate came over to him, congratulating him and helping him get back to his own team before stepping into the ring himself.

If the blue team could get a win in this round, they might still have a chance to advance. They would have a rematch with red for a third round that would decide the winner and that person would advance to the next stage of the tournament.

Sashi watched closely as the two others stepped into the ring. As the referee counted down and the fight started, she realized two things. The first was that both teams had sent their more skilled fighters to fight in the first round so that in the tiebreaker, their better fighters would have recovered enough to fight again. Smart.

The second was that the guy from the red team had been the stronger one all along. While he had great skill when it came to fighting and martial arts, Sashi could tell his greatest strength had lain in his endurance and his ability to take a hit. Even after taking multiple blows to the face and body, he hadn't been too hurt when he'd walked out of the ring. He'd been holding back in the fight, gauging his opponent's level of skill. Once he was satisfied, he'd ended the fight quickly, using as little energy as possible, probably saving it for the later rounds.

Even though Sashi had already been pretty nervous and excited, it finally began to sink in for her. This was the real deal. The Big Leagues. It didn't matter how nervous or inexperienced any of the fighters were. It didn't matter what kind of training she and Penn had. Even if some opponents would be harder to beat, none of them were gonna go down easy.

She turned to Penn, about to give him some advice to be cautious and some warning to keep expecting more from their opponent than he was getting, only to find a look of intense concentration and deep thought etched onto his usually carefree face. His eyes were focused completely on the match and she could practically see him taking in, analyzing, and storing information for later use and she found herself caught off-guard again by his seemingly hidden talents. She suddenly remembered that while she and Boone had known about their future lives as Wiseman and Sidekick and had at least had some kind of preparation for the role, Penn hadn't had that at all. On his very first mission, he had been freaking out about his job and how he, a seemingly ordinary guy with his whole life ahead of him, was suddenly expected to _save the freaking world._ But even so, he had quickly recovered, finding an unorthodox method to fix a seemingly hopeless situation and turning his weakness into a strength. And that was when he'd had no experience at all. Now, after all the missions he'd been on, he'd been seasoned into quite a capable Hero, becoming an effective leader and a quick-thinking and excellent strategist. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that for all her attempts to keep things about herself private, he was really the mysterious one. Just what was he really capable of? If not for the fact that he was on her side, the thought might have scared her.

She turned back to the match, only to find that it was over. The red team, which was the dojo from the north, had won. The guys from the other dojo walked back, their heads hanging in shame, and Sashi couldn't help but feel a little sorry for them. They wouldn't be living that down anytime soon.

The next match was between the sponsored teams. As the two teams were called up, Sashi saw Salaak and another guy get up. The names of the competitors flashed on a giant screen as the two teams discussed with each other what she assumed was their battle strategy. They walked to the ring and Salaak fist-bumped his teammate before climbing into the ring. He caught sight of Penn and Sashi and waved at them. Penn waved back and after a nudge, Sashi waved too, although more hesitantly. Salaak turned as his opponent climbed into the ring and the referee stepped between them. Salaak and his opponent, whose name was Kairo, stared each other down as the referee counted down. Kairo glared fiercely while Salaak returned his intense look with a calm one of his own. The referee brought his hand down and the match began.

Kairo and Salaak charged at each other. Salaak caught his opponent off-guard and jumped forward, doing a somersault and kicking his legs out mid-roll, kicking Kairo in the stomach with the full momentum of his roll behind it. Kairo stumbled back as Salaak leaned back on his head and flipped himself back up onto his feet. Kairo rushed forward and jumped, aiming a flying kick at Salaak. Salaak aimed a roundhouse at Kairo, hitting him away and dodging his kick at the same time. Kairo quickly got up and aimed a punch at Salaak but Salaak dodged it and kicked the back of Kairo's knee, bringing him down. Kairo turned his body and tried to strike Salaak again but Salaak merely stepped back to avoid the blow, then stepped forward and kicked Kairo in the chest, knocking him down onto his back.

Kairo got up again and Salaak aimed a roundhouse kick at his face but Kairo caught his leg. Salaak jumped and tried to kick him with his other leg but Kairo dodged it. Salaak then stood on his hands and pulled his trapped leg toward him, pulling Kairo with it, and used his free leg to kick Kairo straight in the face. Kairo stumbled back, stunned from the blow. Kairo rushed at Salaak and aimed a punch at him but Salaak blocked it and drove his knee into Kairo's stomach. Kairo doubled over and Salaak went behind him as Kairo looked up. Salaak kicked the back of his knee again and grabbed his neck, forcing him down onto the ground. He put a foot on one of Kairo's arms and when he tried to strike at Salaak with his other hand, Salaak grabbed that arm and pulled it behind Kairo's shoulder. Kairo struggled but try as he might, he couldn't break free of Salaak's grip.

Eventually, Kairo tapped out and when the referee called it, Salaak let go of Kairo. As Kairo struggled to get up, Salaak held out his hand to help him. Kairo looked at him in surprise before accepting it and allowing Salaak to help him to his feet. They shook hands and Kairo walked out of the ring.

Sashi noticed Salaak didn't look tired at all. Not only that, he hadn't taken a single hit during that entire fight. He had also finished the fight rather quickly, wanting to save his stamina for the later fights, which was why he had opted for forcing his opponent to tap out instead of winning the hard way.

She looked at Kairo and his teammate to see that his teammate seemed to be very angry with him. The crowd's cheering was making it hard to hear what his teammate was saying, but it must have been awful from the look on Kairo's face. Kairo said something while looking down, probably an apology and to Sashi's surprise and utter disgust, his teammate slapped him. Hard.

Penn noticed it too and his eyes widened in shock for a moment before quickly turning bright with anger. His teeth clenched and his hands tightened into fists. He and Sashi watched as the guy, who's name flashed as 'Enrique' on the screen, stepped into the ring. Sashi wished it were her in that ring with him.

Then her eyes fell to Salaak and she was surprised to see barely-contained rage in them. His body, which had been relaxed before, was taut with tension and she could see that he was making a visible effort not to attack his opponent as he stepped into the ring. Suddenly, she almost felt sorry for Enrique. Almost. As the referee signaled the start of the fight, a smile of satisfaction spread across her face as she watched the two fighters charge at each other.

Enrique aimed a punch at Salaak but Salaak grabbed Enrique's arm and used it to flip Enrique over him, slamming him into the ground with visibly more force than necessary. Barely giving Enrique time to roll over so that he was upright, Salaak pulled his arm up, lifting him up a bit, before grabbing his neck and squeezing hard as he lifted him to look him in the eye. Enrique grabbed at Salaak's hand but the more he struggled, the tighter Salaak squeezed.

Then Salaak's other hand reared back and he punched Enrique hard, causing him to stumble back. Salaak advanced and drove his fist into Enrique's stomach, forcing him to double over, and slammed an uppercut straight into his face, almost knocking him off his feet. He rushed and slammed a kick straight into Enrique's stomach, making him fall against the ropes. Salaak then rushed at him and, with all his might, jumped and drove both his legs into Enrique's stomach in a brutal two-legged kick, slamming him out of the ring and onto the floor. Enrique groaned, holding his stomach as Salaak stood up and looked at him angrily, although there was now less rage in his eyes. As the medics checked him for injuries, everyone waited with bated breath to see if Salaak had gone too far. The medics flashed a thumbs-up sign to no one in particular and the crowd cheered.

Salaak didn't even wait for the referee to announce that he'd won before stepping out of the ring and walking up to Kairo. Kairo looked at him in shock. Salaak said something to him, patting him on the shoulder and smiling in encouragement. Kairo looked at him with wide eyes before a smile spread across his face and he nodded. Salaak shook his hand before walking away and rejoining his teammate.

Penn and Sashi stared at him in shock. Salaak was a smart fighter. He'd already proven that in his first fight. But to go all-out like that, risking disqualification just because someone from another team had treated his teammate, Salaak's _opponent_, badly, was rash, to say the least, and downright stupid to say the most. And Penn and Sashi respected him all the more for that.

"You know," Penn began, "he'd make for a pretty good Hero."

"So you're gonna quit on me now?" Sashi said jokingly.

Penn chuckled. "Nah, you'd miss me," he said.

"You're right," Sashi said quietly. Penn turned and looked at her in surprise, wondering if he'd heard right, but she was focused on who the next contestants were. Penn decided to focus on the match and when the next contestants were called up and it wasn't him and Sashi, he turned his attention back to Salaak. This was going to be tough. Salaak was a defensive fighter. He may have gone on offense these first few fights, but that was because of the sheer difference in skill between him and his opponents. He had acted more recklessly than he normally would, especially in the second round, but even then, he had come out of both of those fights unscathed. Not only that, but Sashi's fighting style was mostly offense-based, the complete opposite of Salaak's defense-based style. When it came to opposite fighting styles, the smarter fighter always won. _Always._ As much as he hated to admit it, there was absolutely no way Sashi would be able to take this guy.

The problem was, he wasn't even sure _he_ could take this guy. Unlike Penn, Salaak's specialty _was_ fighting, through and through. He was experienced, he was smart, and he was really good. Penn was smart too, but he had always had Sashi take care of the fighting because it wasn't where his own talents lay. And now he was being forced to fight someone who'd redefined the word 'talent' when it came to fighting. The more Penn thought about it, the more he realized that he was in way over his head.

"Penn?" Sashi asked, gently putting a hand on his arm to get his attention. Penn looked at her to see her worried eyes on him. Then, as if getting hit by a truck, he had a sudden realization.

Images flashed in front of his eyes. Sashi saving him and Boone on their missions. Sashi getting angry at their antics. Sashi worrying about them. And that was when it hit him.

He was the Hero. He was the one who always got all the glory. He was the one who was always congratulated. But what about her? He remembered their mission with the fuel crystals. How Sashi had been the one to save the day but the crew had congratulated _him._ That time, he'd told everyone who they should really be proud of. But he didn't do that every time. How many times had Sashi been overlooked? She was the real Hero _every single time._ And how many times had people realized that? As far as he could remember, only once. And even that was fake because her parents still didn't know just how amazing their daughter was and what she did every day.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized how much she had sacrificed every single day on the job for him, Boone, Phyllis, and all the worlds they had saved. And she still did it with a smile on her face. And he couldn't even be a proper Hero most of the time. As he thought about it, he realized he let her down. Every day. _Every day _he let her down_._ And he had never apologized for it. Never even realized it. And still, she forgave him.

She could have come here by herself as a solo fighter. She could have decided to just not go through the trouble of bringing him with her. But she did because she wanted to spend time with him. Because she thought he was _worth_ her time and he couldn't for the life of him figure out why. But right now, that didn't matter.

He had to win. He couldn't let her down again. He wouldn't. After all that she had done, all that she had been through, he _had_ to win for her. He had to do this for her. She deserved it. She deserved more, he knew that. But this was all he could do. And he would do it.

Suddenly, she slapped him.

"PENN!"

"OW!" Penn yelled, holding his cheek which was already glowing with a red handprint. "What was that for?!"

"I kept calling you and you weren't listening," she said angrily. Then her anger turned to worry, an expression he was all too familiar with. "You looked like you were freaking out. It's okay, Penn. Don't worry about it."

"What?" he said confusedly.

"I just came here to have fun. And I did, so it doesn't matter anymore."

Penn stared at her, completely clueless. "What?"

Sashi rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation. "I'm saying it's okay, stupid. We don't have to win." She smiled gently. "Don't worry about it."

He knew she was trying to make him feel better, but she didn't realize it was having the complete opposite effect. The worst part was, she didn't even think twice about it. She didn't resent him for having to do it. She was _okay_ with it. And she shouldn't have been. She should have been demanding. Strict. Satisfied. _Selfish_. _Anything_ other than okay. But she wasn't because she'd had to sacrifice so much that now she was just used to it.

'_We don't have to win.'_

"Yes we do," Penn whispered to himself, a newfound determination and desire burning in him. Sashi looked back at the ring to find that once again, she had missed the match and it was over. Then suddenly, their names were called up. As they went over, Sashi glanced at Penn to see that his usually friendly blue eyes were now burning with a fierce determination. She was about to ask him what was wrong when he turned to her. The steel in his eyes melted away for a second, replaced by the warmth she was so used to seeing when he looked at her.

"Sash, can I take this match?" he asked. Sashi looked at him in confusion.

"You wanna take this round?" she asked, surprised by his request. Although neither one of them had said it, she thought she would be the one to do most of the fighting since that was her specialty and Penn would only fight if he was the better fit.

"No, I wanna take the _match,_" he said.

"But there's two of them," Sashi protested.

"I know," he said.

"Penn, I don't think that's a good idea," Sashi said.

"Sash, please," Penn pleaded.

"But-"

"_Please," _he practically begged. Sashi was growing more confused and even more worried, but that deep trust she had for him won out again and against her better judgment, she nodded. He looked at her gratefully before his eyes hardened again and he climbed into the ring.

She watched him intently as the referee counted down. This sudden change worried her. She wanted to win, but she didn't want Penn to hurt himself just to make sure she did. If that was what it took, she'd rather lose. She should be glad that he was so determined to win, but she wasn't because it just wasn't like him. Determination, when taken too far, made people reckless. And that lead to them getting hurt. And she really, _really_ didn't want Penn to get hurt.

'_Why did I agree to this?'_ Sashi thought. He wasn't a fighter. Hell, he was a pacifist by nature. Why would she bring him here?!

Suddenly the match started. The other guy charged at Penn and Sashi's breath got stuck in her throat. Time seemed to slow down. Every instinct in her body screamed to jump in there and protect him, or tag in, or pull him out of there. Anything.

It turned out she didn't need to.

The guy tried to punch Penn but Penn spun around him and grabbed his arm, using his own momentum to throw him in the opposite direction. The guy quickly recovered and turned to see Penn walking toward him slowly, with a scary look in his eyes that chilled him to the bone. He hesitated for a second, suddenly scared, before recovering and rushing at Penn again. This time, he aimed a kick at Penn's side but Penn caught his leg and delivered a hard kick to the guy's chest, making him stumble back. He rushed, smashing another kick into the guy's stomach. Then he rushed at the guy and just as he looked up, Penn jumped, wrapping his legs around the guy's head and twisting his body, groaning from the strain as he used his legs to fling the guy across the ring floor. He rolled and fell out of the ring before he even knew what was happening.

She watched as the next guy stepped in, now much more cautious of Penn. He rushed at Penn and threw a flurry of blows at him, Penn either dodging or deflecting all of them while being backed into a corner. Sashi was about to yell at him to get out of there when he suddenly caught one of the guy's punches. The guy looked at him in surprise and Penn momentarily smiled triumphantly before spinning the guy around, grabbing him around the waist, and lifting him up before throwing him out of the ring.

The crowd looked at him shock, then erupted into noise, some cheering at how fast and quickly he'd won the match, others yelling in disapproval at not seeing much action. Sashi looked at him in surprise but he just smiled as they both walked back to sit down.

She could still see that bright, burning look in his eyes. Just as she was about to ask him what was wrong, he caught her looking at him and his eyes turned warm again.

"What is it, Sash?" he asked, concerned.

"I was gonna ask you the same thing," she said.

"It's nothing," he said. She gave him a 'Do you think I'm stupid?' look and he withered a bit before saying, "I just really want to win."

"Why?" Sashi asked. He gave her a confused look and she elaborated. "You aren't usually so serious about winning. You aren't even serious during our missions." Something briefly flashed across his face but it was gone so quickly that she thought she might have imagined it. "Why are you taking this so seriously? Why do you want to win so bad?"

Penn sighed, knowing there was no way he was going to get out of having to explain things to Sashi.

"I'll tell you when this is over," he promised her. She was about to protest but stopped herself. She knew something was going on with Penn. She didn't know what it was or when it had started or even why it had started. But if he told her he would explain himself, then she believed him.

Sashi watched the next few matches intently, keeping a particularly watchful eye on Salaak and the other strongest fighters. There was one guy being sponsored from Japan that looked really strong. He might even give Salaak a run for his money, but Sashi was pretty sure she could take him. While he was skilled, he was also very predictable. Unlike Salaak, he didn't use unorthodox methods to catch his opponents off-guard or use strategy in his fights, relying more on instinct and physical ability. It would all come down to a matter of skill, and she was confident she had him beat in that category. She and Penn shredded their way through their own fights, with Penn, in particular, finishing his fights quickly, although he tried to force his opponent out of the ring more often than beating them up whenever he could. As she watched, the burning look in his eyes calmed down a bit, replaced instead with a steely determination, but she was still a little worried. Whatever was going on in his head was pushing him to be more reckless, and while he was skilled, he wasn't very strong. If he took too many hits, he wouldn't be able to fight. Worse, she'd have to take him home heavily injured, knowing it was her fault he'd ended up that way.

Penn had already guessed everything that was going through Sashi's mind. She might not realize it, but her expressions gave away more than she thought. However, her worry only fueled his determination even more as he fought his way through one opponent after the other. They were nearing the finals and there were only three sponsored teams left. The first two would have a match and the third would fight the losing team. Depending on who won, the losing team would either have a rematch with the first team to try to secure a spot in the finals, or the winning team would fight the first team for that spot. Either way, the third match would be the last.

Penn and Sashi looked at the screen intently, watching carefully for which names showed up. Salaak had, unsurprisingly, made it this far with them. The next match would either be between Salaak and them or him and the guy from Japan. The seconds seemed to stretch out as all three teams watched the screen, waiting for the names to pop up.

After what felt like minutes but were actually only seconds, Salaak and Penn's teams appeared on the screen. They all got up and walked over to the ring, buzzing with anticipation and nervousness.

As Salaak climbed into the ring, Sashi grabbed Penn's arm as he was about to do the same, something Salaak noticed. Penn looked at her in confusion as he stepped down from the ring.

"What is it, Sash?" he asked.

"Just…" she said something that was too soft for him to hear.

"What?" he said, leaning down to hear her better.

"I said be careful," she said, pushing him away. Penn smiled before stepping up into the ring.

He and Salaak stared each other down, Salaak with an excited look in his eyes, Penn with a fiercely determined one.

"If you want to back out, now's the time," Salaak said. "There is no shame in backing out of a fight, Penn. That does not make you a coward, it makes you smart. I will not have any less respect for you."

"Don't worry about me," Penn said, grinning. "Worry about yourself. I'll give you a new reason to respect me when I win."

Salaak chuckled, grinning excitedly. He had misjudged Penn. For all his kindness and pacifistic nature, he had a warrior's heart. He had noticed something change in him when he'd stepped out onto the ring earlier. Whatever it was, it both unnerved and excited him at the same time. No matter who went down, one thing was for certain. This was going to be one hell of a fight.

"Are you sure you can beat me?" Salaak asked.

Penn grinned, and with that light burning in his eyes, he almost looked insane for a second. He readied himself as the referee counted down.

"_Bring it on."_

And they charged.


	5. Day Off (Part 3)

**Penn Zero Fanfiction**

**Author's Note**

**Before I say any of the stupid crap that you guys (and girls) don't care about, let me first say something much more important. I want to say thank you to PootisSpencer for encouraging me to keep writing this. You really helped to motivate me to work on this. Every time I cracked open my laptop and I didn't feel like writing, I would look at your words and I would be ready to work again. Your words really helped me and I want you to know I'm really thankful for your support.**

**Now that the important stuff is out of the way, back to the excuses.**

**Long story short, too many projects, too much work, not enough sleep. I honestly have never looked at my assignments with as much hatred in these last few days than I ever have in my whole life. That's how much I wanted to work on this and how much it pained me that I couldn't. So my apologies for that.**

**This is the conclusion to the tournament. The emotional stuff that you guys _actually_ wanted to see will, unfortunately, be included in the next chapter because I have given it my all to finish this and I really can't do anymore. I'll update as soon as I can but I'm going to start updating on the weekends only from now on. That means weekly updates, people. Unless, by some miracle, I find myself with some spare time (I'm surprised I even remember what that is anymore). But that's how I'm going to operate from now on.**

**Anyways, thank you all for your support. I'm glad to know there are other people who share my love for this show. I will stop talking now. Enjoy!**

* * *

** Day Off (Part 3)**

In hindsight, she really shouldn't have been surprised. As she practically carried Penn out of the stadium, she thought back to his match against Salaak.

Penn and Salaak charged at each other. Salaak slid on the ground and tried to trip Penn but Penn jumped over him. However, Salaak leaned back on his head, doing a handstand, and spun, holding his legs out on either side, forcing Penn back to avoid the spinning kick that would have hit him had he gotten any closer.

Salaak got up and charged at Penn. He threw a flurry of punches at Penn, with Penn deflecting all of them on instinct, his eyes desperately searching for a weakness in Salaak's near-impenetrable defense. Penn ducked another punch and Salaak drove his knee into Penn's face, knocking him back. However, almost immediately, Penn leaned back on his head and kicked his legs out, flipping himself forward on his feet as Salaak advanced. Penn smashed his fist into Salaak's midsection, knocking the air out of him and forcing him back a couple of steps.

Salaak backed up in surprise. That blow to the face should have at least stunned him but not only did Penn instantly recover, but he also moved too fast for Salaak to react. Salaak renewed his focus, being even more on-guard than he had been when the fight started.

Salaak and Penn advanced and Salaak dropped to the ground, trying to kick Penn's legs out from under him. Penn stepped back and Salaak moved forward, doing the same with his other leg. Penn dodged again. Salaak got up and did a cartwheel, trying to hit Penn with his foot mid-motion, but Penn sidestepped. However, Salaak spun and tried to smash his heel into Penn's side. Although Penn blocked the blow, pain exploded in his left arm and the force knocked him to the side. Pressing his advantage, Salaak quickly closed the distance between them, punching Penn across the face. Penn spun with the motion of the blow and landed a hard backhand fist against Salaak's face. Salaak stumbled back and Penn ran forward. He jumped and flipped, doing a 180° spin in the air and doing a handstand, which he then pushed off of, smashing both feet square in Salaak's chest, knocking him back against the ropes of the ring.

Salaak looked up at Penn to see him turn around and keep his distance, watching him carefully.

_'Every time I land a blow, my defense cracks just a bit,'_ Salaak thought to himself. _'When a fighter sees an opening, they have to attack it without thinking. Those kinds of instincts take a lot of training to earn. It takes even more training to _recognize_ those openings without thinking. And even if someone had the training to do all of that, the kinds of openings that I leave are so small, so fleeting, so subtle, that even if someone _were_ trained enough to notice them, they would never be able to act on instinct to attack them. Because if you have the time to think about it, you weren't fast enough.'_ Salaak noticed how Penn had already landed multiple blows on him. He was fighting on pure instinct, but his instincts were so trained that they weren't primal, they were _strategic._ _'Who is this guy?!' _Salaak thought in disbelief.

Then Penn suddenly charged at him, throwing a punch straight at his face. Salaak dodged to the side and threw his own punch. However, Penn spun around his arm. He grabbed his wrist and pulled him forward, smashing his elbow into Salaak's back and forcing him down to one knee. Salaak tried to punch at Penn with his other arm, but Penn merely raised his knee to block the oncoming blow. He moved Salaak closer to the center of the ring, keeping a firm hold of him to make sure he didn't get upright again. Then, still keeping a hold of Salaak's arm, he rolled over his back and flipped him over himself, smashing him onto the ground. But then, too fast for Penn to react, Salaak rose up and smashed a hard uppercut to Penn's jaw, making him stumble back and lose his grip on Salaak's arm. Salaak rushed and did a side-flip, using the momentum to smash a kick into Penn's stomach, knocking him off his feet and making him slide on the ground a few feet back. Penn quickly got up but he was slightly shaky and Salaak knew why. You don't just walk off from a hit like that, no matter how strong you are. And Penn wasn't that strong to begin with.

If he was being honest with himself, he had never expected Penn to reach the finals. He had seen Penn's skill in fighting and it was something that even he, as good as he was, couldn't help but admire. However, at heart, Penn was a strategist, not a fighter, unlike his partner Sashi. For that reason, Salaak had never expected Penn to have been able to fight through all those opponents, which made him respect him all the more when he ended up doing just that.

Not to mention, it was exactly _because_ of his nature as a strategist that he had realized that pitting his partner against Salaak would have been the worst possible thing to do. Salaak had been trained to fight opponents stronger than himself, which meant he had to use his instincts and fighting skills for defense while using his brain to figure out a good offense, hence the defense-based fighting style and unorthodox battle strategies. Not only that, but his fighting style had been the exact opposite to Sashi's, and when it came to opposite fighting styles, the smarter fighter always won. _Always._ That was why Penn had chosen to go up against him.

However, while Salaak could see that Penn was skilled at fighting, that wasn't where his talents lay. He wasn't trained to be durable and take a hit the way that everyone else in the tournament was, and all those previous matches were beginning to take their toll on him. While he may have been strategically superior, he wasn't durable enough to last until the end of the fight. Maybe with a bit of endurance training, he could have won the match, but with the disadvantage he was at now, he'd lose.

Salaak and Penn charged at each other and although Penn continued to fight valiantly, Salaak slowly but surely gained the advantage over him and Penn's hits lessened in frequency.

Salaak reared his hand back and punched Penn hard across the face in a brutal right cross, knocking him clear off his feet.

However, mid-fall, Penn twisted his body and smashed a kick into the side of Salaak's face. Pain exploded through Salaak's jaw but even through it, he was caught by surprise at the amount of strength Penn managed to put behind it. As he stumbled back, Penn rushed at him and smashed an uppercut into the bottom of Salaak's jaw and drove a fist into Salaak's stomach, then repeated another uppercut into Salaak's face. As Salaak managed to regain his bearings, he saw Penn flip forward and do a handstand, then hop off and wrap his legs around Salaak's head. Repeating a move he'd used earlier in the tournament, he twisted his body and threw Salaak across the ring with his legs, making him roll across the floor. As Salaak desperately tried to get up, Penn rushed and smashed a kick into his face, forcing him closer to the edge of the ring.

_'He's trying to win on a ring-out,'_ Salaak realized.

He saw Penn rushing toward him as he started to get up. Suddenly, Salaak leaned back on his head and kicked his legs out as Penn reached him, driving them straight into Penn's chest and making him fly back and fall hard, sliding back a few feet before stopping. Salaak thought he wouldn't be able to get up after another blow like that, but his eyes widened as Penn rolled over and forced himself onto his feet and turned around to glare at Salaak, the determination in his eyes not having lessened at all.

_'This guy,'_ Salaak thought disbelievingly.

Salaak charged at Penn. He wasn't going to go down until he either blacked out from the pain or couldn't move his body and Salaak didn't want to keep beating him until either of those two things happened. He also knew that despite the fact that Penn wasn't as strong, the guy still knew how to deal a good hit, and now that the adrenaline rush was beginning to subside, Salaak was starting to feel pain all over his body, and he still had the finals to win.

As he closed the distance between him and Penn, he saw a triumphant glint in Penn's eyes and he realized the trick he'd just fallen for.

_'Oh, crap,'_ he thought.

Penn dodged Salaak's arm and leaned back, grabbing Salaak's shirt as he rolled onto his back. He stuck his feet against Salaak's stomach and as he rolled onto his back, he pushed with all the strength he had left and threw Salaak over the ring and onto the floor.

Salaak heard the referee blow his whistle, indicating the match was over and the crowd cheered. Penn looked at Salaak on the ground before turning around to see Sashi waving him over. He went over to her, stumbling a bit from all the pain, and leaned down at the edge of the ring, looking at her from between the ropes.

"What is it, Sash?" he said, although he had to wheeze out some of the words.

Sashi suddenly grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the ring.

"Ah!" he yelled as Sashi yanked him out, his face hitting one of the ropes as he was pulled forcefully out of the ring. Sashi caught him before he could fall onto his face but he winced as she accidentally pressed against one of his more injured spots. She noticed and looked at him apologetically as she sat him against the ring and leaned down to check him for injuries.

He winced as she touched a few certain spots around his stomach and sides. Her eyebrows creased in worry before her expression became stern.

"You're sitting this one out, Penn," she said firmly.

Penn looked back to see Salaak holding his side as his partner climbed into the ring.

"That's fine with me, Sash," he said, giving her a pained smile.

Sashi climbed into the ring to face off against Salaak's partner.

Looking back on it, things should have gone pretty well. But Sashi wasn't a strategist. Which was why one bad decision had led to…

She glanced at Penn. They were getting on the bus, Penn's arm around her shoulder and her arm around his waist, holding him up. While he tried to make an effort to walk, he was only able to drag his feet across the ground and she was still practically carrying him.

This. One bad decision had led to this.

But Salaak _was_ really strong, and Penn was unbearably stubborn when he wanted to be. She hadn't wanted things to turn out the way they had, but...

In hindsight, she really shouldn't have been surprised.

Penn could clearly see that Salaak's partner was nowhere near as good as Salaak himself. Like Sashi, Salaak had been expected to do most of the fighting. However, unlike Penn, this guy didn't have the brains to make up for the brawn. Any openings that Sashi left were never exploited, any opportunities were never taken. This win would come easy.

Or it would have, had Sashi finished the match while she still could.

As Penn watched, Salaak's partner suddenly turned around and ran back. Sashi, realizing too late what he was going to do, tried to stop him as he rushed to tag in his partner. However, she wasn't fast enough.

He dove to Salaak's outstretched hand as Sashi dove and grabbed his ankle.

"TAG!" both Salaak and his partner called out at the same time. The referee blew the whistle and Salaak climbed back into the ring as his partner climbed out. Sashi's heart sped up in nervousness as she saw Salaak ready himself on the other side of the ring, getting into a fighting stance, his body tensing up. However, she noticed that there was a little less grace in his movements, and as he rose to stand up on the other side of the ring, she noticed a very subtle falter in his movements that anyone else would have missed. So apparently Penn had done some lasting damage.

_'Figures,'_ she thought. The guy might not give the hardest punch but he knew how to hit where it hurt. She might have a chance at winning after all.

The referee blew the whistle and Sashi charged, expecting Salaak to do the same. However, Salaak seemed caught off-guard by Sashi's speed and barely managed to dodge the punch aimed at his face, feeling the wind hit him as he dodged.

Sashi pressed her advantage, closing the distance between them and Salaak jumped away to the center of the ring, doing a handstand and pushing off of it, trying to put some distance between them.

Sashi once again used her superior speed to rush at him and he dodged yet again, giving her back a push, causing her to lose her balance. However, instead of falling forward, she turned her fall into a front-flip and Salaak stepped back to avoid her heel smashing the bottom of his jaw.

Sashi turned around and was about to charge at Salaak again, only to notice the sudden change in his aura.

All the tension in his body left as he slowly and calmly relaxed into a fighting stance, being just enough on-guard to not come off as lazy. She saw him take a deep breath and slowly exhale, looking at her with a focused gaze and suddenly, Sashi had a really bad feeling.

She charged again and this time, Salaak effortlessly dodged her punch. Sashi spun to hit him with her heel but he ducked and kicked her other leg out from under her. Sashi recovered immediately and turned to face Salaak only to find no one there.

"Behind you!" she heard Penn cry out in a strained voice. Sashi didn't even have time to turn around as a crushing kick in her side sent her skidding across the floor ring. However, she was much more durable than Penn was, so while that kick may have hurt him considerably, she was completely unfazed by it.

She and Salaak rushed at each other and she threw a flurry of blows at him, him dodging or deflecting all of them. Growling, Sashi sped up her blows, trying to break through his defense, but it didn't seem to faze him at all. Suddenly, he pushed forward and smashed his head into hers, knocking her back. He did a front-flip and she stepped back to avoid the kick that would have come down on her hard. She rushed, trying to close the distance between them only for him to flip back and kick her in the bottom of the jaw.

Growing even angrier, Sashi charged at him but he jumped and kicked both legs into her chest, knocking her back yet again. Before she could react, he ran, jumped and did a side-flip before smashing a kick into her stomach, and as durable as she was, he was really strong, so she definitely felt that one.

She fell back but immediately flipped herself back onto her feet, only to find that Salaak was nowhere in sight. Then she felt something charge into her side. Not giving in this time, she grabbed Salaak, who had tried to charge into her, and spun, throwing him across the ring. He quickly recovered, only to find Sashi charging at him like a bull. He kicked his knee straight into her face, breaking her charge, and hit her stomach and face with a flurry of blows, severely weakening her, before doing a backflip and kicking her in the jaw, making her fall back.

Sashi forced herself to get up again. She saw Salaak charging at her and she knew that she'd been backed into a corner but she readied herself anyway.

Then a hand wrapped around her ankle and someone yelled "TAG!"

She and Salaak looked in shock at Penn, who looked like it had taken all of his energy to yell that out. The referee blew the whistle and Sashi climbed out of the ring.

"Penn, are you crazy?!" she said to him.

"Sashi, you can't beat him," he said calmly. "He's already won."

"What?" she said confusedly.

"Sashi, in the first few minutes of the fight, he knew you would try to get a quick victory so he expected you to go all-out. He was testing you, seeing how capable you were. And when he knew, he figured out how to beat you."

"Penn-"

"After he stopped holding back, did you hit him even once?" Penn asked. Sashi tried to think of something to say but couldn't. "He's a strategic fighter, Sash, which means if we're going to beat him, we don't need a stronger fighter, we need a smarter one."

"But you're hurt, Penn," she said. "And it's because of him. You're supposed to be the smart one, here. Do you really think it's a good idea to send you back in there to fight the guy that did this to you?!"

"Sashi, if we're going to win this tournament, we have to beat him. And the only one who can beat him is me. Believe me Sashi, I can do it."  
"Penn, you don't-"

"Sashi, do you trust me?"

Sashi stopped. He was doing it again. He was forcing her to choose between trusting him or hurting him. Sashi grew angry, not at him, but at the fact that even though she knew he was doing it intentionally, she still couldn't be angry at him. He'd always had her best interests at heart, even if that meant sometimes disregarding his own needs, like right now, when he knew that he shouldn't be pushing himself considering all the damage he had taken but he was about to step into the ring with the same person who had reduced him to this state. All because she wanted to win the tournament.

_'I hate you, Penn,'_ she thought, even though she didn't mean it.

"We don't have to win," she said, desperately trying to talk him out of what he was about to do. However, the moment those words left her mouth, all the determination in his eyes that she had seen in him earlier returned, this time in even greater force than before.

"Yes we do," he said. With that, he climbed into the ring and faced off against Salaak as the referee counted down.

If Salaak hadn't been nervous before, he sure as hell was now. Penn stepped back into the ring, looking at him with all the determination he'd had before, and it unnerved Salaak, to say the least. He was the only one to have hurt Salaak in the entire tournament, and while he'd barely managed to win against him before, he'd also had a lot more time to recover. And he may not have been the strongest guy, but he still knew how to land a good hit, something that was still having some lasting effects, if the pain in Salaak's body was any indicator.

The referee brought his hand down and quickly got out of the ring, but neither fighter charged, instead watching the other carefully. The more time passed, the more uneasy Salaak grew.

Then, trying to catch Penn off-guard, the tension exploded as Salaak charged at Penn. He spun, trying to hit Penn in the face with his heel. Penn ducked the blow and jumped forward, smashing his fist into Salaak's face, knocking him back. Salaak immediately got up to see Penn charging and readied himself. Penn dropped to the ground and tried to kick Salaak's legs out from under him but Salaak jumped, however, Penn turned around and hit Salaak in the stomach with his other leg. Before Salaak could hit Penn back, Penn rolled forward, putting some distance between the two. Knowing that he couldn't risk losing the opening that Penn had left, Salaak charged at Penn while his back was turned, trying to hit him within the small window of time while his guard was down. However, Penn leaned backwards and did a handstand, kicking Salaak away just as he was about to hit him.

As Salaak was knocked back, he started growing frustrated. There were clear openings in Penn's defense, and even though Penn could utilize the openings that Salaak left, it still didn't explain why Salaak couldn't do the same. After all, there were so many gaps and holes in his defense that-

Suddenly it hit him and he couldn't understand why he hadn't seen it before.

_'I am such an idiot,'_ he thought to himself. Penn was a strategic fighter, more so than Salaak by an immeasurable amount. While Salaak had used strategy as a tool in his fighting style, Penn had used it as the foundation on which he had built everything. Which meant he would be _way_ too smart to leave those kinds of gaps and openings.

_Unless he wanted to._ Penn's instincts in fighting were so trained that they were strategic instead of primal. And Salaak, for all his skill, hadn't reached that level. Penn had purposely put him in situations where his primal instincts would take over. He had left fatal openings and put himself at incredible risk of taking a damaging hit, knowing Salaak would capitalize on that opportunity, doing exactly what Penn wanted in the process. He had stepped straight into Penn's trap again and again, and it had brought him that much closer to losing.

The pain in Salaak's body had increased, and he could feel his movements were getting slower because of it. He wouldn't be able to last much longer, he knew that. But he also knew that even though they hadn't reached the finals yet, the real fight was here, between them. There were no other fighters that could go head-to-head with any of them, so even if this wasn't the finals, the real winner would be decided here and now. And knowing that filled both Penn and Salaak with a new desire to win, so strong that it was all they could think about. Salaak readied himself, Penn doing the same, only one thought filling both their heads.

_You're going down._

Salaak tried to kick Penn in the side but Penn grabbed his leg and used it to throw him. He rushed at Salaak and jumped, about to pounce on him, but Salaak hit him in the chest with both his feet, causing Penn to fly back. Salaak charged at Penn but Penn flipped himself back onto his feet, hitting Salaak in the stomach with his forward momentum, causing him to double over. Penn stood up and hit Salaak with a hard uppercut, causing him to stumble back. Salaak and Penn charged at each other, their determination clouding their minds to the point where they forgot all about battle strategies and feverishly attacked each other until they were both just a mess of punches and kicks and grunts. Their partners, all the other fighters they'd beaten, all the ones they hadn't, and the entire crowd, watched in silent amazement.

Salaak punched Penn hard across the face and Penn spun with the momentum, smashing his heel against Salaak's face, knocking him back. Both of them rushed at each other again. Penn threw a punch at him but Salaak locked their arms together at the elbow. They both punched each other at the same time and stumbled back. Both their faces were covered in bruises and both their noses were bleeding profusely. As they grinned at each other, Sashi saw their teeth were tinted red, too. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she knew that the referee should have stopped them by now, but no one wanted that, not even the two of them.

Penn and Salaak looked at each other with a mixture of hate and respect. Hate because they were both so adamant in standing in each other's way and respect because they were the only ones to have ever pushed each other so far. They both could already guess what the other was thinking and in a moment of clarity, they both dropped their guard and walked up to each other, doing a small fist-bump while grinning at each other, before they went straight back to trying to kill each other.

Salaak smashed a kick into Penn's stomach but Penn grabbed his leg before he could retract it. He pulled Salaak towards him and smashed his head into Salaak's face. Salaak tried to punch him but Penn grabbed his arm and jumped, locking both his legs around Salaak's neck and applying crushing pressure, Salaak buckling under the weight. Salaak struggled and Penn squeezed tighter, desperately trying to drive Salaak to tap out.

_'Come on,'_ Penn thought, straining to hold Salaak. _'Oh, COME ON!'_ he mentally screamed as, against all odds, Salaak started to get up. Penn saw his eyes shining with a crazed light and his teeth clenched from the effort. He could see the veins bulging all over his neck as Penn squeezed even tighter, however, Salaak didn't fall. Then, with more strength than what should have been possible for any human being in his position, Salaak slammed Penn on the ground and the explosion of pain made Penn lose his grip on Salaak.

Salaak stumbled and fell on his back, both him and Penn groaning. It was getting hard to think through the pain, but they were still lucid enough to know how close they were to winning, and more importantly, _how much they wanted it._

Groaning from the effort, they both struggled to their feet, although Penn took longer and even when he'd gotten up, it was taking all of his energy to keep standing.

"You're strong, Penn," Salaak said in a strained voice. "But I'm stronger." He charged at Penn, his fist flying toward his face to deal the finishing blow. Penn barely had the energy left to stand and for all his determination and will, he was only human. And this was it.

"It's over," Salaak whispered.

Then Penn raised his eyes and there was a victorious glint in them.

With impossible reaction time, Penn ducked the blow and wrapped one arm around Salaak's shoulder and the other under his outstretched arm, grabbing his other wrist in a vice grip. He used his leg to trip Salaak and with all his might, slammed him down onto the ground.

"You're right," he whispered right next to his ear.

And he squeezed.

Salaak let out a strangled gasp as Penn squeezed his neck again, this time with even more might than before.

"You might be the stronger fighter, Salaak," Penn said to him. "But I'm the smarter one." He squeezed tighter. "And I think even you're smart enough to know…" He squeezed even tighter. "That at this point, that's all that matters."

Salaak punched Penn repeatedly in the side, trying to get him to release his death grip, but it was no use. Penn's grip only tightened more out of desperation, and Salaak knew that at this rate he was going to pass out. Still, he struggled.

"Come on," Penn said. "We both know I've won. So just tap out."

Still, Salaak struggled.

"Please, I don't want to hurt you any more than I already have," Penn said. "You're a great fighter. Everyone knows it. So just _stop._"

Salaak didn't listen.

"Backing out of a fight doesn't make you a coward. It makes you smart." Salaak paused at hearing his own words. "I won't have any less respect for you. And neither will anyone else." Salaak didn't react. "Please."

Salaak struggled a bit more before suddenly stopping.

He would have sighed disappointedly if he could breathe. He tapped the ground weakly and the referee blew his whistle. The crowd erupted into cheers and Penn's grip slackened. Salaak gasped and then went into a coughing fit. His partner rushed into the ring and rubbed his back, helping him up, Sashi doing the same for Penn.

As the two fighters stood up, both leaning heavily on their partners, they looked at each other and grinned weakly. Penn held out his hand and Salaak firmly shook it.

"You win, Penn," Salaak said in a raspy voice. "You win."

Sashi had fought the rest of the tournament. Another girl had fought Salaak's teammate and Sashi had fought her and another guy in the three-way finals for first place. Neither one of them proved to be much of a challenge for her. But that wasn't what was on her mind at that moment.

Sashi looked at Penn's face as he rested his head on her lap, his legs sprawled out over the edge of the seat. His eyes were closed and his breathing was slow and steady. His face was covered in bruises, although she'd managed to wipe off most of the blood. She was really nervous for the explanation she would have to give to Uncle Chuck and Aunt Rose for their nephew's horrific injuries.

_'That's going to be a fun conversation,'_ she thought sarcastically. Penn was in too bad of a condition to do much of any talking or explaining, so he would probably go straight to bed. Or to the hospital. Either one seemed likely. Either way, that meant that he wasn't going to be present for the awkward conversation with his aunt and uncle and she wouldn't be getting that explanation for his sudden change in behavior and desire for winning that she so badly wanted until at least tomorrow.

She sighed as she looked at him. Ever the strategist. Making sure that everything went his way.

Although in hindsight, she shouldn't have been surprised.


	6. Day Off (Ending)

**Penn Zero Fanfiction**

**Author's Note**

**So this chapter is shorter than I'd like it to be but lately, I've had to re-evaluate my priorities. I'm a bit disappointed in myself since, after all this time, this is all I could come up with, but in my defense, I do have a life outside of writing and I do need to attend to that as well. This isn't my only responsibility and I have to keep that in mind. I hope you guys understand and I'm really sorry if I disappointed you all.**

**With that out of the way, on to the actual chapter. So since I made this an entire arc (even though I didn't mean to), I decided to take it a bit further than I normally would. You'll see what I mean by the end of the chapter. I'm not sure if this turned out to be a good chapter since a) it's really short and b) I'm not sure if it turned out to be a fitting ending. But I'll let you be the judge of that.**

**On a side note, are you guys okay with swearing in this or is it too much? I'd like a second opinion since I thought about including some stronger language but I'm not sure if you guys will like that. I wonder why I didn't think to ask you guys sooner but then I think back to the terrible life decision of starting this when I did and I realize that it's because I'm an idiot. Oh, well. Nothing can be done about it now.**

**As always, I appreciate all your support. I hope you all like my work. Until next time. Enjoy!**

* * *

** Day Off (Ending)**

Sashi sat by Penn's bed and watched as he slept. He looked peaceful, but she knew that wouldn't last once he woke up and his injuries from the day before made themselves known to him. While Uncle Chuck and Aunt Rose had reacted with fury at seeing him in that state, something that was quite unusual for them considering their usual demeanor, the first thing they had focused on was addressing his injuries. Being related to Part-Time Heroes apparently had its perks, as they were very well-versed in first-aid, quickly assessing Penn's injuries and working effectively working to relieve them. As soon as they were done, they sent him to bed, forgoing the usual singing of lullabies and other annoying acts that Penn despised so much, instead taking Sashi out of the room and sitting her in the living room across from them. They had been uncharacteristically serious and very, _very_ angry. Sashi had to explain what happened during the entire tournament, leaving out the part about Penn's sudden change in demeanor and how reckless and stubborn he had become, not wanting to worry his relatives even more than they already were. She had been fully willing to accept the blame for what happened to him since it had been her idea to take him to the tournament in the first place. However, Uncle Chuck and Aunt Rose had taken it surprisingly well, saying that ultimately, it was their nephew's decision to go with her and it had been his decision to push himself the way he had and that they would not hold _her_ accountable for _his_ choices. They then thanked Sashi for being honest with them and bringing Penn home and asked if she wanted to stay for a little while, an offer she had gratefully accepted. She had then gone to Penn's room and pulled up a chair beside his bed, sitting and waiting patiently for him to wake up.

As she sat, her mind was going crazy with a single question.

_'Why?'_ she silently asked his sleeping form. Why would he have put himself through that? She hadn't wanted to win that tournament, she had only wanted to have some fun with her best friend. But when she tried to tell him that, it had only seemed to make him more determined to win and she couldn't figure out why. Something in him had changed during that tournament. Something big. And it had caused him to willingly let himself get beat half to death. And all for…

_'For what?'_ she thought. What had been so important to him that he would go to those lengths just to achieve it? What had he fought so hard for? What had he been trying to prove? Who had he been trying to prove it to? Why was it so important to him that they know? Who were they? What was it?

She suddenly realized that her one question had branched off into hundreds, and the thought only irritated her more. She wanted answers, and the fact that she wasn't getting them was driving her insane. Even so, as much as she wanted answers, her concern for Penn won out, and she resolved to not wake him up or even disturb him, staying silent and still so as not to make a sound for fear of waking him up. No matter what she wanted, right now, all that mattered was that he got better. She would get her answers when he was able to talk.

After a while, Penn groaned as he woke up, the light searing through the darkness and burning his eyes as he opened them. He immediately shut his eyes again and opened them more slowly this time, taking his time to adjust to the sudden brightness.

He tried to get up but the sudden burst of pain stopped him. He gasped as he lay back down.

"Hey!" said a familiar voice from beside him. "Easy, Penn."

"Sashi?" Penn said, recognizing who it was. "Is that you?"

"Who else would it be?" she said, immediately beside him, her worried eyes searching him to see if he had hurt himself too badly. When Penn saw that look on her face again, a wave of hatred suddenly rose up in him. Sashi saw it too, and she must have thought it was directed at her because she recoiled, a look of shocked hurt on her face. Penn immediately kicked himself mentally and turned away from her, pulling his covers back up over himself as if that would keep Sashi away.

Sashi was surprised at his show of vulnerability almost as much as she was at the burning hate that she had seen only moments earlier. She slowly went towards him even as he retreated even more at the sound of her footsteps.

"Penn?" she said hesitantly, afraid to see that hate again. She hoped it wasn't meant for her.

"I need to rest," he said. At this, Sashi almost scoffed. For all his tactical prowess, he really _sucked_ at giving excuses. At least when it concerned her. She briefly thought why this was specific only to her before shaking off the thought.

"Penn, talk to me," she said gently.

"Sashi, just go home," Penn said, and she almost pitied him.

"Penn, look at me," she said more firmly, and the sudden shift in her tone was all Penn needed to know that she wasn't going to take no for an answer this time.

Slowly, he took off the covers and looked at her and she was surprised to see a look of naked shame on his face. Sometimes it surprised her how easily she could read him. He was like an open book to her, never able to hide anything from her, even when he tried, just because she knew him that well. She wondered if the same was true for him, too.

"Penn, what's going on with you?" Sashi said, coming closer, causing Penn to retreat again. She stopped, holding her hands out in a calming gesture as if trying to tame a wild animal. It seemed to work, as she slowly took another step forward and Penn didn't immediately recoil again.

"I don't want to talk about it," Penn said quietly, almost mumbling.

"Well, I want answers, Penn," Sashi said, becoming suddenly angry. After all the trust she had put in him, after all that she had endured for him, both on their missions and _especially_ from his aunt and uncle, she was _going_ to get some answers. He had promised her that and she wasn't going to let him get out of it.

She opened her mouth to tell him all of that when she saw understanding on his face as he looked at her and she realized that he had read her the same way she had read him. So it_ wasn't_ one-sided. He sighed and pushed back the covers all the way before turning to face her.

"What did you wanna ask me, Sash?" he asked her, almost sounding resigned. Her concern for him returned at the tone of his voice, but she didn't let that distract her from what she wanted to know.

"Penn, what were you thinking?" she asked, surprising him at how calm her voice was. "I told you, we didn't need to win. I just wanted to have some fun and I did, so why did you do that?"

"Because I wanted to win, okay?" he said, trying to get her to stop asking. She didn't.

"No," she said. "You didn't do it just because you wanted to win."

"Well, if you know that, then you can probably figure out why I really did it, can't you?" he said, sounding more frustrated now. Sashi, however, was unfazed.

"Yeah, I probably could," she admitted. "But I want to hear it from you."

"Why?"

"Because I thought I knew you, Penn," she said. "And what you did today made me doubt that. I never thought you'd do something like that."

"you never thought I'd take the fight seriously for once?"

"I never thought you'd hurt yourself," she corrected him. "Especially since you knew I wouldn't want that." Penn looked like he wanted to say something, probably another attempt to push her away, but he seemed to think better of it and just sighed.

"Penn, what's wrong?" she asked again, coming closer slowly, still afraid that he might recoil again.

"Me," he answered. At Sashi's confused look, he elaborated. "I'm what's wrong. I'm not meant for this. Saving worlds, fighting bad guys, saving people, I'm not meant for any of it. Sashi, I'm an awful Hero," he said, and she realized why he had looked so ashamed before.

"Penn, that's not-" she began but he cut her off angrily.

"What?" he demanded. "That's not true? Really? Sashi, how many times have me and Boone fooled around? How many times have we nearly failed the mission? How many times have you had to save the day?" He paused, looking down, tears welling up in his eyes. "How many times did anyone thank _you_ for saving the day instead of me?"

"Penn, what are you-"

"How many times did _I_ thank you for it?"

She paused and he looked up at her and she could feel the self-loathing oozing off of him.

"Sashi, your _parents_ don't even know what you do. And I know I said that we're all still proud of you and I know you think that that's enough, but it _isn't_, okay? It ISN'T! And you shouldn't believe that it is. You save everyone all the time and they thank _me_ for it even when it's _my_ fault for not being a good Hero. Boone's parents are proud of him. My parents are proud of me. But your parents don't even know what you do. And you have to live with that every day. You live without that pat on the back or that proud smile and you keep doing your job and you keep saving us and you keep _smiling_ through all of it." At this, his voice broke and Sashi, out of sheer impulse, sat on the bed and pulled him into a tight hug, letting him cry into the crook of her neck, gently stroking his messy hair even as his tears stained her skin and shirt.

"You just keep _smiling_ like it's all okay. You sacrifice so much for us all the time and no one even _cares._ And I didn't realize it at all until now. And it… It _killed_ me inside to find out how much you'd had to sacrifice. You didn't even think twice about it because you'd been doing it so long that you just thought it was part of your job. It's not. It never should have been. It only ever was because I _made _it. And I'm sorry for that, Sash. I'm so _sorry._"

He continued to sob and she just held him, continuing to stroke his hair and calm him as his emotions poured out of him.

"I let you down. _Every time, _I let you down. I'm so sorry, Sash."

As he cried, Penn realized that even now, she was still the one taking care of him and again, his disgust at taking her comfort for granted caused him to try to pull away from her. However, she held him firmly and when he struggled again, she pulled him harder, holding his head against her chest, unwilling to let him go. When he realized he wouldn't be able to get free, he gave up and hesitantly wrapped his arms around her waist. She continued to hold him until he finally calmed down and stopped crying.

When he was calm again, she spoke.

"Did you really think I ever cared about any of that?" she asked him. Before Penn could speak, she went on. "I don't want the fame and glory, Penn. I never did. A Sidekick isn't supposed to have that. I knew that when I took this job. And I took this job because I never wanted any of that in the first place."

"But didn't you want your parents to be proud of you?" he hesitantly asked her.

"Of course I did, Penn," she said, her tone lighthearted and soothing. "But it was better for them if they didn't know. I didn't like it, but I accepted it. It was just part of the job. Besides." She smiled. "Sidekicks specialize in kicking and fighting and destroying and ripping things apart. Now _that's_ what I wanted."

"That's very psychologically concerning," Penn said, suddenly feeling very unsafe in Sashi's gentle embrace. She chuckled and some of the tension in the air was released.

"Penn, you might not be the typical Hero," she admitted, "but that's exactly why you were chosen. All the typical heroes of all the worlds we saved weren't good enough. You are because you're not like them. You're better than them. And you should never be ashamed of that."

"But Sashi," he began, "don't you want people to know about _anything_ you do for them?"

At this, Sashi sighed and let go of Penn and Penn was suddenly hit by the cold of the room temperature. He knew it should have been perfectly comfortable but he couldn't help thinking that he kind of missed Sashi's embrace.

"Penn, what we do doesn't reward us at all. We do it for the good of the people. And they don't even know it. We don't get paid. We don't get congratulated. My parents don't even know what they should be proud of when they look at me. I have to live with that every day. I know that. But I'm happy, Penn. I'm happy because of you. This job isn't supposed to be fun but it is. And it's all thanks to you. Whenever I'm down, you're always there for me. Not because you want me to be a good Sidekick, but because you want me to be okay. You don't do it because it's your job, Penn, and you have no _idea_ how much that means to me. You're not my partner, you're my friend. If you took your job seriously like I do, we wouldn't have fun. We wouldn't laugh. We wouldn't be happy. We wouldn't… We wouldn't be friends. If I had partners instead of friends, I'd still be alone. And I… I don't want to be alone anymore, Penn. So be stupid. Be funny. Be you. Because I don't care if you're a good Hero, Penn. You're you, and that's all I want."

Penn stared at her in shock, trying to take in her heartfelt confession, trying to process everything he had just heard.

He was so busy trying to process her words that he didn't even notice her come forward on the bed until she wrapped her arms around his head and pulled him close again.

"You're the best, Penn," she said simply. "Don't you dare forget that. Ever."

Penn couldn't express his feelings at that moment so he opted for just wrapping his arms around her slim waist tightly. She grunted and he was worried he might have squeezed her too hard, but when her grip on him tightened on him as well, he relaxed. He remembered how strong she actually was and he felt stupid thinking that he, a ninety-pound underweight teenager, could hurt her.

He didn't know how long they stayed like that but it must have been a long time because there was a hesitant knock on his door and his aunt and uncle's voice from the other end.

"Penn?" his uncle called.

"Are you awake, honey?" his aunt asked through the door. The knob turned and Penn and Sashi sprang apart. Uncle Chuck and Aunt Rose poked their heads in to see Penn and Sashi a little _too_ far apart. Despite them putting the pieces together in their heads, they decided not to say anything.

"Feeling better yet, kiddo?" Uncle Chuck asked, sounding painfully similar to his brother. Penn shook off the thought and nodded, hoping his face wasn't too red. He looked at Sashi to see her with her knees tucked up against her and her hands holding the covers up to her face so that only her eyes were seen over them. He would have laughed at how cute the sight was if not for the embarrassment he was feeling.

"Well then," Aunt Rose spoke up, getting the two kids' attention. "I think it's time for Sashi to head on home now."

At the disappointed look on Penn and Sashi's faces when they said that, the two adults looked at each other with a smug grin before looking back up innocently at the two kids on the bed.

"Unless you'd like to stay," Aunt Rose added, sounding deceptively sweet. If the two were a little older, they would have been able to see through their little act, but they weren't so they didn't and the two adults felt all the more triumphant because of it.

"No," Sashi said, although she sounded regretful. "I think it would be better if I went home now. My parents are going to want to know what's taking so long if I don't get back soon, so I should get going."

"Okay," said the two adults, sounding almost too disappointed. They sighed and left the room.

Penn and Sashi looked at each other, both their faces bright red and burning. Not able to stand the awkwardness, they both stood up and walked out of Penn's room. As they came down the stairs, Uncle Chuck and Aunt Rose were seated at the table playing cards, watching inconspicuously as Penn followed Sashi to the front door.

"Uh, see you later, Sash," Penn said, trying to sound normal, even though they both felt anything but.

"Yeah, you two," she said, a pained and forced grin on her face. The two of them turned, Sashi walking away and Penn closing the front door. He waited, counting to three in his head, before spinning around, trying to catch his aunt and uncle who he had been _sure_ were staring at him and Sashi before. To his disappointment and utter confusion, they were sitting at the table, playing cards completely normally. Even though it seemed completely normal, Penn narrowed his eyes, wondering suspiciously if the Heroes were the only ones in the family with special skills. He shrugged off the thought and walked back to his room and laid down in his bed, where the faint scent of Sashi's perfume still lingered. His face burned in embarrassment as he thought of what had transpired between him and Sashi only minutes before and he tossed and turned in his bed.

The moment he had left their sight, Uncle Chuck and Aunt Rose dropped all pretenses of subtlety and went back to conspiring with each other for when Valentine's Day came around.


	7. The Princess Most Fair

**Penn Zero Fanfiction**

**Author's Note**

**FINALLY! GODDAMMIT, THIS F***ING SH** IS SO F***ING HARD! I JUST WANTED A COUPLE OF F***ING HOURS TO WORK ON THIS BUT NOOOOOOOOOOO! APPARENTLY, THAT'S TOO MUCH TO F***ING ASK! WELL, TO THAT I SAY F*** YOU, YOU S***F*** F*** **** **** ******* ***********************************************************!**

** Soooooo... I'm not dead yet, although I think one of you will probably change that in the near future. Anyways, I just wanted to say that I F***ING HATE THIS JOB! (Not really.)**

**Ahh. Now that I've gotten that off my chest, onto the more important stuff. So the reason that this took so long is that when I had the idea to originally start writing this fanfiction, I had gone back and started rewatching all the Penn Zero episodes to find moments that they could share. I had created a list of the episodes where they could have shared a moment and a brief summary of the intended scenario. However, I made two mistakes. First of all, I started this at a really bad time and school started up again so I never got through all the episodes. Now I'm going to have to find the time to finish that while at the same time keeping up with this and my school work.**

**Joy.**

**The second mistake I made was that the scenarios I wrote in my outline were too vague. At times, I felt like I had maybe made an error in judgment when I thought that they could share a moment in that episode or in that sort of scenario and I felt like I was basically grasping at straws. It doesn't help that the relationship between Penn and Sashi was never meant to be a central focus in the show so that made my job infinitely more difficult.**

**Joy.**

**Anyways, add school onto all of that and you have my colossal delay. So I apologize for that, too.**

**With all of that boring stuff out of the way, I give you this. If it's not enough, I completely understand. I mean, if you guys (and girls) are getting frustrated with me, I totally get that. Balancing multiple responsibilities isn't an excuse when you got backed yourself into that corner in the first place. If you guys (and girls) have any advice for me, don't hesitate. I could seriously use it.**

**But enough about that. You guys (and girls) waited long enough for this chapter. I'm not going to make you wait any longer because of my talking. Although if you skipped over this entire section, then this doesn't apply to you. Enjoy!**

* * *

**The Princess Most Fair**

"Oh, wow! This is delicious!" Penn said with his mouth full, somehow not spraying meatloaf all over everyone else's plate, although Sashi covered hers protectively anyway.

"PENN," she said pointedly. Penn looked up at the sound of his name.

"Yeah?" he said, his mouth still full of meatloaf. Sashi wondered how he could fit so much into such a small space. Then again, he did have a big mouth since he could never seem to shut it sometimes. She rolled her eyes before fixing him with an annoyed stare.

"Don't speak with your mouth full," she said. Penn swallowed and apologized before going back to wolfing down his meatloaf. Sashi might have been disgusted if not for the fact that she wasn't much better. This meatloaf was seriously good.

"I gotta say, Mrs. Wiseman, Boone wasn't just bragging when he said you make some of the best meatloaves around," Penn said, completely ignoring what Sashi had said to him just moments before. Sashi considered killing him before deciding that she didn't want to make a mess during dinner, especially since she was a guest. She sighed. Unfortunately, Penn's grisly death would have to wait.

Mrs. Wiseman just chuckled and looked flattered at Penn's compliments.

"Boone, I can't believe you didn't share this with us sooner," Penn said, looking across the table at Boone with what would have been an accusing look from anyone else, only to see Boone continue eating his meatloaf without even looking up at the mention of his name. Penn immediately grew concerned at the lack of response from his Wiseman.

"Boone?" he tried again, still getting nothing.

"Boone," his father said, louder so as to get his son's attention.

Boone suddenly looked up. "What?" he said. "Uh, yeah, what he said."

Boone's parents looked at him crossly for his lack of manners but Penn quickly started talking, complimenting the meatloaf some more and making conversation with Boone's parents to get their attention away from their son. Boone, once seeing that he was no longer in trouble, went back to looking down at his plate.

Sashi's eyebrows creased in concern at her normally cheerful friend's dejected mood. She looked at Penn and although he was still making conversation with Boone's parents to keep them distracted, he and Sashi made eye contact and he nodded almost imperceptibly, letting her know he'd noticed it too.

When they had finished dinner, everyone pushed back their seats. Boone quietly put his dishes in the sink and went up to his room without a word and this time, even his parents noticed his mood. Unlike before, where they had looked at him sternly, this time they looked at him with concern. Penn noticed it and before his father could go up to his room to talk to his son about it, he stepped in.

"Mr. Wiseman," he said, getting the man's attention. "Whatever happened with Boone, he usually only talks about it when he's had some time to himself. So just give him his space for a little while before you talk to him or he's not going to want to talk at all."

Boone's father looked conflicted for a second before relenting with a heavy sigh. He nodded and went back to helping his wife clean up.

After Penn and Sashi had helped the Wisemans clean up, despite their protesting of how guests weren't supposed to do that, Penn and Sashi said their goodbyes and walked out the door. As soon as they heard the door close behind them, they both turned and went around the side of the house.

Sashi jumped against the wall of the house and stepped off, landing on top of the fence, before pushing off of that and landing on the roof right next to the window. She set to work quietly opening it while Penn jumped and stepped off the wall before running up a few steps and grabbing the edge of the roof with his hands and pulling himself up. Sashi climbed in through the window as Penn followed her, closing the window behind him. They stood up and faced the bed, ready to talk to Boone when they saw instead that the bed was empty. Penn looked around the room and noticed that the walls were bare of posters. The floor was spotless and there was nothing to suggest that Boone had been in this room in a long time. Or ever, really.

Penn and Sashi tensed as they realized that they'd accidentally climbed into the wrong room. They scrambled to the window and fumbled to open it as they heard Mr. and Mrs. Wiseman coming up the stairs, both talking about something that they couldn't quite make out through the door. Penn and Sashi scrambled out of the window and quickly climbed to the top of the roof as the Wiseman parents opened the door.

They immediately noticed the ever so slight change in the room's temperature and the open window. Immediately on their guard, Wendy quickly zipped around the room, her Part-Time skills surprisingly sharp considering how long it had been since she had used them. She searched the room thoroughly while her husband stayed by the door, sealing off the only escape route. When Wendy rose up and shook her head, her husband relaxed and they both looked at the window.

"Go check it out," he told her. "I'll go check on Boone."

Wendy was momentarily caught off-guard by her husband's tone, suddenly being reminded of when she used to be the Wiseman to Brock and Vonnie. The sudden swell of emotion caught her by surprise for a moment before she steeled herself and nodded. Her husband noticed her stiffen, but he chose not to comment on it, his concern for his son overcoming his curiosity.

He rushed to Boone's room, whipping open the door. Boone suddenly shot up into a sitting position at the sound of his dad coming through the door so hurriedly. He blinked and rubbed at his eyes before focusing on his father.

"Dad?" he said confusedly. "What's going on?"

His father didn't answer him, his eyes scanning the room and his ears listening for even the slightest of sounds that shouldn't have been there.

Boone grew worried at seeing his dad's Part-Time skills at full work, considering he'd retired and left that life behind. He could also hear something moving very quickly on the roof and could only guess that it was his mom.

Boone yelped as something came zipping through his open window and came to a stop right next to his bed. His mom looked at his dad and shook her head and they both relaxed and sighed in relief.

"Mom? Dad? What's wrong?" Boone asked, looking ever so slightly scared. His parents came over to him and tucked him in before kissing him on the forehead.

"We just forgot to give you your goodnight kiss, that's all?" his mom said.

"Then why did you come in through my window?" Boone asked, looking at them suspiciously.

"Goodnight, buddy," his dad said as if he hadn't spoken. His parents turned around and walked out of his room, closing the door.

Penn counted to ten in his head before he dared to peek out from underneath the bed.

"All clear, guys," Boone whispered.

Penn and Sashi let out their breaths and crawled out from underneath the bed.

"That was too close," Sashi said. She forgot that while she, Penn, and Boone - OK, maybe not Boone, but while she and Penn may have been some of the most naturally gifted Part-Time Heroes ever, their families were some of the greatest Heroes there had ever been. She shivered when she thought of what might have happened if they had been caught. She suddenly had a lot more respect for Rippen when she remembered he'd been on the receiving end of their skills numerous times.

"Boone, what's wrong?" Penn asked, looking at his friend worriedly. "You haven't been yourself at all lately."

"I don't wanna talk about it," Boone said, turning over and pulling the covers over his head.

"Boone," Sashi said, her tone much more firm than Penn's. Boone curled up more at the sound of her voice. Sashi opened her mouth to speak again but Penn put a hand on her shoulder and stopped her. She looked at him but he shook his head. She was about to protest but paused. She sighed and stepped back, deciding to let Penn handle this. Penn looked at her gratefully before turning his attention back to Boone.

"Boone, buddy, come on," he said, shaking Boone's shoulder. "We're your friends. Just tell us what's wrong."

Boone pulled away. Penn was ready to quit but then he sighed and pushed back the covers and sat up, looking sadly at the two of them.

"It's about my Pigoilet," he said. Penn raised an eyebrow and Boone elaborated. "Everyone laughed at me, Penn. I worked really hard on it and everyone laughed at me. Rippen failed me. The class made fun of me. Even the bad guys made jokes about it. It feels like no matter what I do, everyone just laughs. I mean, I know I'm not a very good Wiseman but…"

He gritted his teeth as he held back tears, pausing before he continued. "I don't want to keep embarrassing myself, guys, but I feel like I do it just by being me."

"Boone, that's not true," Penn said. Boone just gave him a withering look.

"Penn, I put everything into that project and they _laughed_ at it."

"That's not true, Boone," Penn said, desperately trying to console his friend and hating that it was going so wrong. "Rippen liked it."

Boone looked at him incredulously. "I don't care if Rippen liked it," he said. He sighed and went on, looking down. "I don't care what Rippen thinks. He's a jerk. But I do care what other people think. I…" He paused. "I care what you think." He looked back up at Penn and this time, he looked hurt. "But you already told me what you _really_ thought when we went to save the princess."

"Boone, I-"

"Just go, Penn," Boone said, turning away and pulling his covers up over his head.

"Boone?" his mom called. "Who are you talking to?"

Sashi tensed and grabbed Penn's arm and pulled him away. He tried to pull back but he was suddenly reminded just how much stronger Sashi was. He looked at her and she gestured to the window, her eyes wide and worried. Penn looked at her like he wanted to argue but she shook her head and pulled at his arm. Penn clenched his teeth, standing still and fighting against every fiber of his being that was telling him to stay, before relenting. The sound of Boone's parents' footsteps were getting closer as they neared his bedroom. Penn took one last look at his friend before he and Sashi climbed back out the window and shut it just as his parents opened the door. They looked around only to find that Boone seemed to be sound asleep. Boone's father noticed the window which they had _definitely_ left open was closed and he looked suspiciously around the room, then at his son, but Boone didn't move. Boone's father turned around and headed out of the room but his mom heard him sniffle just as she closed the door. Her eyes narrowed at the sound as she walked back to her own room.

Meanwhile, Sashi was looking worriedly at Penn. He stared at the ground, his fists clenched tightly shut and a look of anger on his face. Then he raised his head and roughly brushed past Sashi. She grew even more worried as she followed Penn.

"Penn, what are you going to do?" she asked him nervously.

"Something that will probably get me arrested," he said as he continued walking. Sashi sighed, knowing she wasn't going to be able to talk him out of it. She jogged to catch up to him.

"So what's the plan?" she asked readily. Penn looked at her in surprise for a moment before smiling as he started talking.

Rippen was woken by the sound of his window smashing. He shot up in bed to see Penn slowly rising from a crouch right next to shattered glass. He leveled a look at Rippen and his normally cheery bright blue eyes were dark and angry.

"Can this wait until tomorrow?" Rippen asked, annoyed. "There's a time and place for everything, Penn, and this is neither."

"IT IS NOW!" Penn yelled, pouncing on the bed, his outstretched hands reaching for Rippen's throat. Rippen quickly dodged and got out of bed, instantly readying himself for a fight. Penn let out an animalistic cry and lunged at him again but Rippen dodged to the side. Penn threw a flurry of blows at him but Rippen dodged and deflected all of them. He easily kicked Penn's legs out from underneath him and raised his leg up to bring it down in a hard ax kick. Penn barely dodged and the wooden floor broke and splintered where Rippen's heel landed.

Penn quickly got up and jumped, aiming to hit Rippen in the jaw with an uppercut and the full momentum of his jump behind it but Rippen once again easily dodged. Penn spun mid-air and tried to hit Rippen in the chest with a back kick but Rippen grabbed Penn's ankle and swung, aiming to throw him out of the window he had crashed through earlier. However, Penn spun again and landed in a crouch against the wall. Pushing off, he tore through the air and did a front flip, hitting Rippen with a kick in the chest, causing him to stumble back. However, Rippen was tall and built like a brick house and when it came to strength, Penn wasn't even in the same league, much less on the same level.

Growling, Rippen struck at Penn but Penn jumped back to avoid him and put some space between them. However, Rippen moved _much_ faster than Penn thought he could, and he lunged at Penn. Penn jumped back again but Rippen rushed forward, grabbing Penn around the waist and taking them both out of the window Penn had previously entered through. They both briefly fought in the air, with Penn dodging Rippen's strikes fluidly due to his superior agility, before Rippen grabbed Penn and threw him away. Rippen twisted his body in the air and landed on all fours in a crouch. Penn hit the wall of the house and fell down to the ground, groaning in pain. There was a crack in the wall where Penn had hit and Rippen chuckled at seeing it.

"It always took three of you to defeat me," he said to Penn as he walked toward him. "Well, four if you count Larry. He always seemed to help you more than he helped me." He rolled his eyes at the thought of his unwaveringly loyal yet but grievously-lacking-in-evil henchman before continuing. "I fought your parents, Penn Zero. And they were much, _much_ stronger than you. They definitely put up a better fight, that's for sure." He chuckled before continuing. "And I _won_ against them. If they couldn't beat me _together_, what chance did you have _alone_?"

Penn finally looked up after struggling to his feet. However, instead of the defeated and fearful look Rippen had been hoping for, he instead got a dark and chilling smile from Penn.

"I'm not alone," Penn said in a husky voice barely above a whisper. At that moment, Rippen noticed a _pitter-patter_ sound and looked to his right only to get a heeled foot smashed into his nose.

"UGH!" he managed as he stumbled back. He didn't need to check to see that his nose had been completely crushed and was probably bleeding profusely. He blinked to see Sashi in front of him and he growled angrily. Just as he was about to charge at her, someone kicked the back of his knee, forcing him down and shifting his focus away from Sashi. Rippen turned to see that Penn had used his moment of distraction to sneak up behind him. He snarled and moved to attack Penn but Sashi smashed another heel into his stomach, knocking the air right out of him. Penn wrapped an arm around his throat and locked it with his other arm that went behind his neck, applying pressure from both sides. Rippen gasped and clawed at Penn's arms before Sashi threw a barrage of punches at his face, hitting his eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks, and jaw. By the time she finished, Rippen could barely see through the pain and he was on the verge of passing out from the lack of oxygen. Penn let him go and he dropped to the ground, gasping and coughing. Penn came around his side and kicked him in the face to turn him upright so that he was facing him. He glared down at Rippen with a look of fury in his eyes.

"I know you hate us," he said. "And I get that. You're a sore loser. You're an awful villain. An even worse teacher, if that's possible. Really, you're not good for anything. So I get it if you don't like us, Rippen. After all, it must be pretty embarrassing if a couple of kids can do their job better than you can do yours." His glare became even scarier as his anger heightened. "But whatever happens between you and us stays inside those worlds and out of this one. You embarrassed Boone in front of the entire class and made him look like a joke. And I'm not just gonna let that go. The next time you do something like that…" He grabbed Rippen by the neck, pulling his face up so that he was looking Penn directly in the eyes. "I'm not gonna stop once you're down. I'll make sure you can't get back up." He smashed Rippen's face into the ground. "You're right, Rippen. I'm _not_ like my parents. And _that's_ what you should be afraid of." He turned around and he and Sashi walked away, their retreating figures fading into the darkness.

Rippen groaned and struggled to get up. He could already feel his face starting to swell up and he didn't even want to think about what he was going to look like tomorrow. As he made his way towards his house he felt two presences behind him.

_'Oh, what now?'_ he thought annoyedly as he turned. His face turned even paler than it already was when he saw the Wiseman parents standing menacingly at the edge of his lawn. Wendy had a psychotic smile on her face and her husband smiled as he cracked his knuckles.

"You didn't think we'd miss out on the fun, did you?" he said to Rippen in a lighthearted tone that betrayed the gravity of Rippen's situation.

The last thing Rippen thought before Hell rained down on him in the form of two aging and retired Part-Time angry parents was this.

_'I hate this job.'_

"I didn't think you'd go that far, Penn," Sashi said to him as they walked towards his house. She had to hand it to him. He might not look like much but he was terrifying when he wanted to be. She had a feeling Rippen wouldn't be pulling anything like that again.

"You're right," Penn said. "I usually wouldn't go that far." He looked at her and spoke with such determination and almost threatening conviction that it would have scared anyone else. "But it's a different story when it comes to my friends."

Sashi looked down, a sad smile on her face. "Boone's really lucky to have a friend like that," she said.

Penn turned at the sudden change in her voice and saw the look on her face.

"I would have done it for you, too," he said to her. She looked up at him in surprise and he smiled. "Sashi, you're as much my friend as Boone is. Don't you know that by now?"

Sashi averted her gaze from his and turned away from him. "I do," she began. "It's just…" She struggled to put it into words. "With you and him, it's different. You and Boone would do anything for each other. You're more than just friends."

"And what do you think we are?" Penn asked her. She turned to him to answer but she didn't know what to say. She and Penn had always worked closely together but she had always kept him at arm's length. Although they hung out at school and worked as partners, she didn't do anything with him outside of that the way Boone did. She'd only taken him to the karate tournament because she thought she might need his help. Although she had been by his side as much as Boone had while they'd worked together, he and Boone shared a bond while she and him just shared a job. The more Sashi thought about it, the more she realized that because of her actions, she and Penn were anything _but_ friends. The sudden realization affected her more than she had expected it to and she couldn't understand why.

"We're just partners, Penn," she said, her voice carrying an undertone of regret that she didn't notice. However, Penn did notice, and it told him that she didn't really mean it. It made him smile and gave him the courage to do what he did next.

"No, we're not," he said to her.

Penn gently grabbed her arm, turning her towards him. Sashi looked at him suddenly. Her eyes were wide and there was an emotion in them that Penn couldn't quite figure out but he pushed that thought to the back of his mind as he remembered what he wanted to say to her.

"We've saved lives together, Sashi, including each other's," he said. "We've fought battles together. We've defeated enemies together. We've risked our own lives for each other. Even when we didn't want the other to do that." At this, he pointedly looked at her and she knew what he was referring to. Her mind flashed to their fight after the zombie apocalypse. Although they had been very angry at each other, by the end, they had become closer. You didn't have that with partners. You didn't even have that with friends. "It's different for us, too." He stopped and grabbed her wrist, pulling her towards him very gently, wondering if she would resist, but she didn't. However, she inhaled sharply at the sudden lack of distance between them. Penn didn't seem to notice as he went on.

"Sashi, after all we've been through together, we're more than just friends," he went on. "I'd do anything for you, too."

Sashi's heart was beating so fast it almost hurt. She didn't know why she was reacting the way she was. After all, it was just Penn, right?

Or maybe she was reacting this way _because_ it was Penn.

The moment was suddenly over as he sighed and let go of her wrist, stepping back from her. For a moment, she felt something indescribable but he started talking before she could fully process it.

"Sashi, you told me you've been alone for most of your life. And I can't imagine what that's like because I always had people with me. You didn't. Now you do but for some reason, you still haven't realized it." He looked at her with something close to pity, but more akin to frustration, with a mix of sadness. "You're not alone anymore, Sash. And you're more than just a friend. You…" He paused, seemingly struggling to put his thoughts into words. "You mean something to me," he finally said. "You mean a lot. More than anyone else." She thought she saw a blush on his face but he turned away from her before she could be sure.

"A-anyways," he said, rubbing the back of his neck as what was _definitely_ a blush spread across his face. "It's getting late. You should probably go home, now. Your parents will be worried about you."

"I don't think they'll-"

"And I don't want Uncle Chuck and Aunt Rose to freak out either," Penn interrupted her, hurriedly walking away. "See you tomorrow, Sash," he called out behind him, leaving Sashi standing there dumbfounded.

"Penn, I-" Sashi began but he was too far away to hear her. Sashi's racing heart was calming down and now that she could think straight, she wondered what exactly had transpired between the two.

Penn walked into his house quietly, being careful not to make too much noise so as not to wake up his aunt and uncle. He hurried to his bedroom and closed the door behind him before jumping into his bed and pulling the covers up over himself as if that would somehow block off everything that he was feeling.

He didn't know what had come over him tonight. He was usually far too scared of Sashi to do what he had done. So what had prompted him to overcome that fear?

No. He hadn't overcome that fear. He had forgotten it was even there. And even if he hadn't, he didn't think he would have cared. Because Sashi hadn't pulled away from him. He knew how she wasn't very physically comfortable with people, not even her own family, and she had _definitely_ been aware of how physical he was being. But she had been okay with it. He knew that had he been anyone else, she would have broken something in their body, flipped them over and slammed them on the ground, or at the very least, pulled away. But she _hadn't_. And that had made him _really_ happy.

But _why_?

Penn curled into a ball even more than he already had. He didn't know what was happening, but he knew that something was changing between him and Sashi. He didn't know what it was or even when it had started or if it had been there from the very beginning. All he knew was that he had meant every word of what he had said to her. She did mean more to him than just a friend. But she didn't know exactly _what_ she meant to him. And what scared him was…

_Neither did he._

Sashi quietly opened the door to her apartment, careful not to wake anyone up. She knew that she had arrived home late, something her parents would not be happy about. However, they also knew that she was perfectly capable of defending herself. She wasn't _always_ able to hide her Sidekick training from them. But right now, she couldn't deal with her parents' interrogation. She couldn't deal with anything at that moment so she just went straight into her room, closed the door behind her, and pulled the covers over herself as if that would somehow block off everything that she was feeling.

All she could think about was what had happened tonight. Penn didn't usually touch her like that. He barely ever touched her at all. He knew she wasn't very physically comfortable with people, not even her own family, yet he seemed to have completely forgotten that. The strange thing was that she had been okay with it. What was even stranger was that had it been anyone else, she would have either broken something in their body, flipped them over and slammed them on the ground, or at the very least, pulled away. But with Penn, that hadn't even occurred to her, although she had been _very_ aware that he was touching her.

She curled into a ball even more than she already had. She didn't know why Penn had done what he did and she didn't know why she had reacted the way she did or, more strangely, why she _hadn't_ reacted the way she normally would. Penn wasn't just a partner and he was definitely more than a friend. He meant more to her than that. But he didn't know just _how _much more. And what scared her was…

_Neither did she._


	8. 3 Big Problems

**Penn Zero Fanfiction**

**Author's Note**

**Okay, so first of all, I know it's been a long time since I updated, but I had been going through some family issues. Couple that with the fact that our report cards were coming up and our projects were getting harder and harder and we had to get so much done so fast and I was way too stressed to even think to work on this. At one point, I tried but I just couldn't _think_. It was that bad. I had to deal with all my real life problems before I could deal with this. So for that, I'm sorry.**

**So, on to the actual chapter. I feel like I've sort of lost my touch a little bit but I want to hear what you guys (and girls) think. This chapter's a bit short but like I said, I've been going through a lot so I couldn't really spare a lot of mental energy to work on this. Anyways, I am going to upload three consecutive chapters to make up for the lost time. This is the first of them so let me know how you guys (and girls) like it. Enjoy!**

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**3 Big Problems**

"And Sashi was just like 'No one's gonna die, stupids! Dodgeball!" Boone said in a surprisingly decent imitation of Sashi.

"Hey!" Sashi exclaimed. "I don't sound like that!"

Penn and Boone gave her a deadpan stare and Sashi shrank back in embarrassment.

"Okay, fine, maybe a little."

Penn and Boone turned back around and Boone continued recounting their adventures as if Penn hadn't been there the whole time. While Sashi found herself getting a little annoyed, she noticed Penn listening patiently, a warm smile on his face as he gave Boone his full attention. Then she noticed Boone and his eyes shone with a childlike excitement as he continued to talk while Penn listened. As she thought about this, Sashi realized that she did that sort of thing with Penn too and she was glad that neither Penn nor Boone could see her blush.

"So," Penn said after a while of Boone going on and on about their mission. His voice caught Sashi's attention and she looked up.

"Saving the world by dodgeball," he went on. "That's a new one."

"I guess now we know why they teach it in schools," Boone said.

Penn and Sashi stared at him.

"What?" he said confusedly.

The two chuckled lightly, causing Boone to become even more confused.

"What?" he asked again.

"Nothing, Boone," Penn said, still chuckling lightly. Boone frowned suspiciously but he accepted Penn's answer.

"Well, I guess I'll go home now," Boone said. "See you guys tomorrow," he called out. Penn and Sashi said their goodbyes as well.

"It's getting really late," Penn said as he looked up at the sky, which was now pitch-black, making the stars seem to shine even brighter against the blackness. While some of their missions could be done in a couple of hours, a fair number of them took the whole day and more often than not, by the time the three of them finished and walked out of the theater, it would be nighttime.

"We should get going," Sashi said. Penn agreed and the two of them started walking.

"I can't wait to see the look on my parents' faces when I tell them we saved the world because of dodgeball," Penn said, a grin on his face.

"Well, that stupid game has to be good for something," Sashi said.

"Hey, I think it's a pretty fun game," Penn said.

"Yeah, well I don't," Sashi shot back, a suddenly sour look settling itself on her pretty features. Penn noticed this and frowned.

"Really?" he said. "Well, you looked like you were really enjoying yourself today," he pointed out. Sashi shot him a dangerous look but he remained unfazed. He knew he was crossing a line with her but over the last few weeks, he'd realized that if he ever wanted to make any progress with Sashi, he'd have to take risks. Besides, he was sure that things wouldn't escalate too far. No matter how angry she got with him, she would never truly hurt him. She was Sashi, after all.

"Well, I _wasn't_ enjoying myself," she said to him, her tone telling him that she wanted him to drop it.

"Is it because I won?" Penn said, now getting annoyed. "Are you really that much of a sore loser?"

"I'm not a sore loser, okay?" Sashi said, sounding more frustrated.

"Then why does it bother you so much that I won?" Penn said. "You even beat me up for it."

"I don't care that you won, Penn!" Sashi said. "I care that you lied to me to do it."

"Seriously?!" Penn said disbelievingly. "You're mad just because I played a little trick on you to win?"

"Oh God, Penn, you don't understand," Sashi said, exasperated.

"Then explain it to me until I do," Penn demanded.

"Why?" Sashi said. "Why does it even matter now?"  
"Because it's you," Penn said.

Suddenly, Sashi stopped dead in her tracks. Even as Penn stared determinedly at her, she didn't react as she tried to gain control over her surprise.

"Sashi," Penn began, "if I did anything to hurt your feelings, I want to know. I _need_ to know so I don't do it again, okay? So just tell me."

"It already happened, Penn. Why do you care about it?"

"I don't care about _it_, Sashi," Penn said. "I care about _you._"

Sashi stopped, then sighed, pointedly ignoring the effects his words seemed to have on her. She gave in, knowing how unbelievably stubborn Penn could be when he set his mind to something. In that regard, he surpassed her by far. She knew that he wasn't going to let this go, no matter how much she begged, pleaded, or complained. So she opened up.

"I got so mad because you did to me what you would've done to anyone else."

Penn gave her a confused look. "What?"

Sashi sighed again exasperatedly. Why couldn't things ever just be easy?

"Penn, you're a good person," she said, seeing how it seemed to catch him off-guard. The reaction hurt a little as it told her that he'd never expect to hear that from her. Pushing away the slight pain and guilt, she continued. "You're so nice to everyone. Not just by helping them, but even in the little things that you do. Even if you have something better to do, you give them your time. Even if you don't want to listen, you do. Even if they're talking about something that you don't care about, you let them talk about the stupid, nerdy stuff they like because you know that no one else will." Penn opened his mouth to say something but she cut him off. "And I know you're going to say that this isn't a big deal or that it doesn't matter but it does, okay? You can ask anyone you want. They'll say the same thing. I would, too." Penn's eyes widened a bit in surprise at hearing that from Sashi. "These things matter and you share them with everyone, not just me and Boone. But then there are other things."

She felt emotion start to well up inside her but she pushed it down again, determined not to let it get control over her. "Then there are other things that you save only for a few people. There's this wonder and happiness that you save only for your parents. There's that bravery and courage you save only for the people of the worlds we save. And then…" She paused. "And then there's that side of you that you save only for Boone. That side that does stupid things with him like make funny faces at each other or talk about all the stupid movies that you guys watch together or just think back to when you two were kids and all those good times you guys had back then. But what do you save just for me?"

The emotions in her were getting hard to force down now and Penn could now see her visibly holding back her feelings. The thought hurt him, as he had hoped that she thought she could be completely open with him.

"Whatever you do with me, you do with everyone else, too. You joke with me the same way you joke with your other friends. You talk to me the same way you talk to your other friends. You treat me the same way you would treat anyone else. So I keep asking myself. Am I just another friend to you? Because friends come and go. If they leave, they can be replaced. And I can't help but think…" She looked down and there was a sad look in her eyes. "Am I just another friend to you? Can I be replaced, too?"

Penn was silent as he took all of this in. Sashi waited for him to say something but was unable to look him in the eyes. Her face burned with embarrassment after having opened herself up so completely to Penn and while a very small part of her felt relieved of a burden it had been carrying, she felt completely exposed to him. Were it anyone else, she would have beat them until they swore on their grave that they would never speak of it again but she didn't even think about doing that to Penn. She trusted him like no one else and even now when she was feeling the overwhelming fear of judgment and embarrassment, that trust won out. So she waited to hear what he was going to say, feeling as if her pounding heart was trying to beat its way out of her chest.

"_No_," Penn said. Sashi looked up at how fiercely he had said it and she inhaled sharply at the deathly serious look on his face. "No, that won't ever happen, Sashi. It _can't_ happen."

Sashi's mouth fell open a little at his words but he either didn't notice or he didn't care because he went on as if nothing happened.

"Sashi, how could you ever think that?" Penn said. "Look at everything we've been through. Look at everything we've done. Do you really think I can just _replace_ all of that? My parents are _gone_, Sash. I don't know if I'll ever see them again. Every time I talk to them, I keep wondering if it'll be the last time. And every time I've ever needed someone to be there for me, who's always been there, huh? _Every. Single. Time._ Who's always been there for me?"

"Me," Sashi answered quietly.

"Do you think I can just replace all of that?" Penn asked. "Me and Boone mess around on our missions. Sometimes, we mess _up_ on our missions. And every time we've ever needed someone, who's always been there for us?"

"Me," Sashi answered again.

"Do you think I can just replace all of that?" He sighed and smiled but it was filled with pain as if it hurt him to see her like this.

"Who do I get to teach video games to? Who do I get to talk with about how beautiful the stars are? Who do I fight with but still stay friends with just because we care about each other that much? Who do I fight for until I can't stand any more just so that I don't let her down? Who did I say mattered to me more than she could ever know?" He paused and stepped towards her and Sashi, without knowing why, didn't back away. "Who would I die for?"

Sashi's breath caught in her throat and she almost couldn't speak but she managed to say, "Me."

"Now what in the all the worlds could ever replace that?" Penn asked. He stepped away from her.

"Sashi, you're one of the most important people in the world to me. In all the worlds. And after everything we've been through, everything we've done for each other, how can you not know that?"  
He turned back to her and she smiled gently at him.

"I do now," she said.

Penn smiled back. "That's all I needed to hear."

They spent the rest of the walk back to Sashi's apartment talking about meaningless, trivial stuff. Actually, Sashi realized it was mostly just her talking. Penn just smiled and listened, every so often saying things here and there to show he was listening, and Sashi couldn't help but love him for it. She knew she probably looked like one of those girls that Penn occasionally talked to that would swoon over him when they thought nobody would notice. But she noticed. And she didn't care. Because in the end, she knew that there was only one girl that Penn cared about. And that was more than enough for her.

And the night ended with the two of them talking and laughing about everything and nothing under the starry sky. Sashi almost regretted it when they reached her apartment. She waved back at Penn as he left. Penn waved back and walked away, a smile on his face for the rest of the way back to his house.


	9. Amber

**Penn Zero Fanfiction**

**Author's Note**

**Alright. So about this chapter.**

**So it took a _completely_ different turn than what I had originally planned. I mean, the entire second half of this chapter is improvised. If any of you write, I think you know what I'm talking about. You have this perfect plan for what you're going to do and then while you're putting it into action, it just doesn't feel right and suddenly, the story starts taking its own path and you're just along for the ride. It's really interesting and it makes me feel all the more proud that these kinds of ideas come from _me_. You look back on it and you think to yourself, "Wait, did I do this?"**

**Anyways, I think I've said enough. This is the second of the three chapters. I think it could have been better but seeing as I'm pressed for time and this did not follow my plans at all, I kind of feel like this is lower in quality than what I usually produce. But at this point, I've done everything I can so this is about as good as it gets. I just hope for you all, it's good enough. I really care what my viewers think and I want this to be good for them as much as it is for me. So let me know your thoughts in the reviews.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Amber**

"An' I stood over 'im with my cactus club an' I said, 'That's how it's done in Big Butt, Junior'," Sheriff Scaley Briggs said with a loud bellowing laugh that everyone else soon joined in as he took another big bite out of his chunk of meat.

"'Butte'," Sashi interrupted loudly. "It's pronounced 'Butte'."

Everyone stared at her in silence and Sashi tried to maintain an air of dignity and righteousness but eventually blushed and shrank down into her seat. Then suddenly, everyone burst out laughing again.

"What?" Sashi demanded, trying to look angry but blushing even harder. Penn laughed beside her and she elbowed him, trying to get at least one of them to stop. Penn weakly tried to defend himself but didn't stop laughing in the least.

"Oh, Sashi," he managed to say between laughs. She was about to elbow him again, this time harder, but he put a hand on her shoulder and leaned his head on her as he continued laughing. She was about to push him off but for some reason, decided not to. Then she finally gave in and joined in on the laughter, which seemed to grow when she did.

Later, when they were all cleaning up the table after the feast, Penn noticed Sashi struggling with her load. Concerned, he went over to help her and caught her just as she was about to fall and drop all the dishes.

"Sashi?" he said as he helped her balance herself again. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Penn," she said, trying to sound reassuring. It would have worked if she hadn't winced again when his hand accidentally brushed over her wrist as he let her go. Sashi saw Penn notice and immediately backed away from him.

"It's nothing, Penn," she said.

Penn hesitated for a second, wondering whether or not he should believe her, then seemed to accept her answer as he relaxed, the tension leaving his body and the concern leaving his face.

"Give me the dishes, Sashi," he said, holding his hand out for the pile of plates she was holding.

"Oh, come on, Penn," she complained. "I can do this. I'm a Sidekick, remember?"

"You're also human, remember?" he shot back. "You might be tough but you still get hurt. And doing work while you're still hurt isn't helping anyone, especially you."

"But-"

"Sashi," Penn said, his voice becoming more stern. Sashi almost shrank back and wordlessly handed him the dishes. She was suddenly reminded that Penn wasn't just the leader of the team for his strategic skills.

Penn smiled warmly as he took the dishes from her and turned around to put them in the kitchen sink. Then he came back and held his hand out again.

"Give me your hand for a second, Sash," he said to her. Sashi gave him her hand and he carefully took off the glove and rolled up the sleeve. The skin was raw and red around her wrist where Amber's lasso had wrapped itself. She knew it had been hurting for a while but Sashi certainly hadn't expected it to be this bad.

Penn's eyebrows creased in concern and worry again and Sashi couldn't help but smile at the thought that the concern on Penn's face was for her.

"Sash?" he said, snapping her out of her stupor. Her head snapped up and Penn let her hand go and reared back in surprise.

"What?" Sashi said and she couldn't help but notice her voice sounded a bit more annoyed than she would have liked.

"Uh, are you okay?" he asked hesitantly. "Does it hurt anywhere else?"

"She lassoed my ankles, too," Sashi admitted, controlling her voice so that it sounded like the friendly and unguarded tone she usually reserved for Penn and Boone. Actually, maybe it was only for Penn since, compared to him, Boone annoyed her _so much more_. Sashi almost growled at the thought of his antics.

Penn nodded.

"Go downstairs and rest, Sash," he said.

"What?" Sashi said. "Why?"

"Because you're hurt and if you're like this when we have to go to school on Monday, people are gonna start asking questions."

"Wait," she said. "We're staying here for the night?"

He nodded.

"Where am I gonna sleep?" she asked.

"In Amber's room," he answered. "She said she felt bad about lassoing you and throwing you in a cage so you can have her room for the night."

"Wait, she already knows we're staying here for the night?" Sashi asked.

"Yeah," Penn said as if it should be obvious.

"When did you guys plan this?" she asked in disbelief.

"While you were busy telling us that it's pronounced 'Butte'," he answered.

"How many times did I say that?" she demanded, still not able to believe she had missed them all making sleepover plans right in front of her.

"I don't know," he said with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. "I lost count at around 800."

Sashi gaped and it took her a full two seconds before she realized that he was joking. He saw the realization dawn on her face and he started laughing. She angrily got up out of her seat and moved toward him as if she was about to tear him apart limb from limb but there was a sudden burst of pain in her ankle as it hit the chair leg and Sashi's raw skin suddenly felt like it was on fire. Penn caught her before she could fall. Sashi clutched at his arms to steady herself. Penn gently set her back in the chair she'd so hurriedly got out of. She thanked him and looked up only to find that they were face-to-face, nose-to-nose. She blushed as she found herself staring deep into Penn's sky-blue eyes and she noticed for the first time how unusually bright they were. She noticed Penn lightly blush as well and all too soon, the moment was over as he let her go and stood up.

As Penn walked away to continue helping Amber and Scaley clean up, no one noticed the look he gave the father and daughter as they worked side by side, talking and laughing as if they hadn't been on opposite sides just hours ago. A sad smile appeared on his face at the sight of them.

Later that night, Amber lay on the roof of the house, staring up at the moon and stars lighting up the otherwise pitch-black sky. She remembered doing this back when she still lived with her dad. Ever since she had left, she hadn't had much time to enjoy the view of them as often as she would have liked to because of all the work she'd done for the villains around town to build up her rep. As she stared, she couldn't help but think they looked especially beautiful tonight.

She heard a sound and she immediately shot up and looked around, her trained instincts making themselves known as she scanned the roof around her. She listened to the sound and realized it was actually footsteps. The guests were sleeping and they were far too light and quick to be her father's. Amber cracked her neck and got up, readying herself for a fight.

She climbed down the side of the house and pressed herself against the wall as the stranger came around the side of the house. They continued walking, not noticing her at all. They stopped ten feet away from the house and looked up at the sky and Amber couldn't help but wonder what they were doing before she realized they were just looking at the stars. She considered leaving them alone before dismissing the thought. She didn't know who they were or what they wanted and if it had been just her and her Pa, she wouldn't have worried too much. But they had guests over and what kind of host would she be if she let them get attacked when she was perfectly capable of stopping it?

With that in mind, she silently crept up behind the figure, careful not to make a sound. Then, without warning, she lunged.

She must have made some kind of sound because the figure inhaled sharply and quickly spun around, their leg already out in a deadly spinning kick. Amber blocked the oncoming kick but she was hit to the side. She rolled over on the ground and quickly recovered before charging. She lunged at the figure again but they dodged her outstretched arms and grabbed her by the collar. They spun, slamming her onto the ground. They let go and stood to examine who it was but then suddenly jumped back before she could trip them and make them fall to the ground. The figure did a back handspring and landed gracefully on their feet. As they looked up, all they saw was a blur coming toward them as Amber got to her feet and rushed forward. The figure barely managed to sidestep in time to dodge being tackled and beaten to a bloody pulp.

Amber quickly closed the distance between the two and threw a flurry of punches and strikes, all of which were deflected or blocked. Amber aimed a right hook at the figure's face but the figure dodged and bent down, driving a fist straight into Amber's stomach. Amber doubled over and the figure smashed an uppercut into her jaw. Amber stumbled back and the figure rushed forward. They jumped and aimed a two-legged kick at Amber's face but Amber used both of her arms to block it. She dug her feet into the ground, struggling to withstand the seemingly colossal force behind the kick and grunted as she pushed back. The figure hopped off and Amber quickly cleared her mind, trying to ignore the pain plaguing her body. She glared in front of her where she expected to see the figure land gracefully and prepared herself for a fight, however, the figure wasn't there. She grew confused before her instincts made her look up. As she did, two feet smashed into her face and the figure hopped off, doing a backflip and landing on their feet as she fell to the ground, groaning.

The figure walked up to her and grabbed her by the collar, fixing her brown eyes with furious blue ones.

"Who are you?" Amber managed weakly.

The look in the stranger's eyes turned from fury to surprise.

"Amber?" they said in an all too familiar voice.

"PENN?!" Amber managed before she was promptly put on the ground and Penn was beside her in a second, looking over her for injuries.

"Oh my God, are you okay?" Penn said worriedly as he helped her up. "I'm so sorry, it's just that you attacked me and I panicked and when I tried to see who you were, you just kept attacking me and I kept fighting back and I thought you were some stranger that had come to attack the Briggs and I got really angry and protective and I started fighting you and-"

"Would you shut your trap?!" Amber said, cutting him off. Penn looked sheepish as he promptly stopped talking.

"Sorry," he apologized. "Why did you attack me out of nowhere like that?"

"I thought you was a stranger come to hurt my Pa an' my guests," Amber answered him. "I was jus' lying on my roof, peacefully watching the moon and stars and then all I hear's someone walkin' around when everyone should be asleep and it definitely don't sound like my Pa. So I look an' I see a stranger walkin' 'round my house so I try an' put him down an' see what he's up to." She shot Penn an annoyed look as she rubbed her cheeks. "But then he steps on my face an' kicks my butt an' all I can think is who in the great Bessie Lou's name is this guy?" She looked him up and down. He didn't look like much. His wiry frame didn't look that strong, which was surprising considering the amount of force behind his blows, and she didn't take him to be such a good fighter either. When Amber had fought Sashi, she had been caught off-guard and couldn't use her feet so Amber had won that fight pretty easily. But Penn's instincts were much sharper. Amber realized that was what had warned him of her attack.

"Didn't you recognize me?" Penn asked. Amber scoffed.

"With that thing on your head?" she said, looking at his hair. "No way."

Penn looked up at what she was talking about, then looked down in embarrassment. "It's not that bad, is it?"

"It is," Amber said. Then she sighed, struggling to get up but wincing in pain when her stomach hurt where Penn punched it. Penn got up and offered her a helping hand which she accepted and pulled her to her feet.

"What're you doin' out here, Penn?" she asked.

"I came to watch the stars," he said. "What about you?"

"Same," she answered. "The roof's a pretty good spot," she said.

"Is that an invitation?" Penn asked, relieved that she wasn't mad at him.

"Well, looks like you ain't as dumb as the rest o' the boys."

Penn chuckled as she climbed up the side of the house. He followed after her and she couldn't help but admire his grace and expertise. She was growing more and more intrigued with him by the second.

"In case you haven't noticed, Amber," Penn said, "I'm not like the rest of the boys."

"I'm likin' that more and more," she said, smiling as they both climbed onto the roof.

They lay facing the sky and got comfortable, although Penn maintained a bit of distance between himself and Amber, something she didn't fail to notice.

For a while, neither one of them said a word, both just enjoying the view of the shining moon and blinking stars. There was an unspoken understanding between the two of them to not say anything so for a while, they both lay there, looking at the view of the moon and stars decorating the sky.

Finally, after a while, Penn spoke.

"Do you come out here often?" he asked.

"I used to," she answered. "Every night. My Pa would always get mad that I wouldn't go to bed on time but I couldn't help it. I loved coming up here. You get peace, quiet, and _this,_" she said, gesturing to the sky and sighed airily.

"I know what you mean," Penn said.

"Anyways," Amber continued. "After a while, he gave up and I could come up here whenever I wanted to without being scared that he was gonna find me."

"What was he like?" Penn asked. "Scaley. What was he like when he was young?"

"He was amazing," Amber said and there was that childlike admiration in her voice that Penn heard in many young children's voices when they talked about their parents as if they were heroes. "He'd save the town again and again. He was the town's hero. He was every kid's dream. He was every bad guy's nightmare. But he was always only _my_ Pa."

"What happened between you two?" Penn asked, and she could hear the tentativeness in his voice. He knew it was a touchy subject and he didn't want to be prying. But just knowing that he respected her boundaries made it okay so she decided there was no harm in telling him.

"He was my hero," she said, and there was fondness and sadness in her voice at the same time. "I wanted to be just like him. I wanted to _be_ him. But no matter what I did or how much I tried, he'd never let me go with him. He'd never see me as anythin' more than his little girl. And I know he was just doin' it to protect me but it always just felt like I was never good enough for him." She sighed and Penn looked to see a tear roll out of her eye. "So I left. I left because I couldn't take it anymore. I was so sick and tired of not bein' 'tough'. It hurt so much because it was _him_. My hero. My Pa. Lookin' at me and lettin' me know that I wasn't good enough. An' I wanted to prove him wrong more than anything. So I worked for the bad guys. Caused a ruckus. Built a rep. All so he'd see me for who I was. Not his little girl anymore but his successor. His legacy. His daughter all grown up." She laughed lightly. "Now he finally sees that. He deputized me an' now I can be just like him. I got everything I ever wanted. And it's all thanks to you," she said as she turned to Penn and smiled. Penn smiled back and turned his head back to look at the sky.

"What about your parents?" Amber asked. At this, the look on Penn's face became pained. Immediately, Amber regretted asking. "Sorry, I didn't mean to-" she stuttered, trying to apologize, but Penn cut off her.

"It's fine," he said, and she immediately stopped talking. He sighed as he looked up at the sky. " Even if I wanted to talk about my parents, I can't."

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because if I did, you'd think I was crazy."

"Honey, you ain't seen none of the things I seen," Amber said, scoffing. But Penn just chuckled.

"You'd never believe me, Amber."

"Try me," she challenged.

Penn chuckled. "Okay."

**5 Minutes Later**

"WOW," Amber said, trying to wrap her head around what Penn had just told her.

"I told you you'd think I was insane," Penn said. He watched as Amber tried to take in everything she'd just heard.

"So you guys go to different worlds 'cause the heroes o' those worlds ain't good enough?" she asked.

"Yep," Penn answered, turning his head back to look up at the sky.

"An' that guy goes to different worlds 'cause the _villains_ o' those worlds ain't good enough?"

"Yep," Penn said again.

"And you guys always go to the same worlds?"

"Not always," Penn said, turning to face her. "We get sent wherever the balance isn't perfect. Usually, the heroes of the worlds are good enough to win. But when they aren't, we get sent in to either take their place or help them. We make sure that good always wins. That guy goes to the worlds where the villains aren't good enough. He tries to make sure evil wins. If the villain wasn't good enough, that means the hero is and we don't need to go and help. But when the villain _is_ good enough, the hero isn't. That's when we're sent in. That's why we go to the same worlds. Because when he tips the balance towards evil, we have to go in to tip it back to good. Sometimes, the heroes of the world he's gone to are good enough that even when he's there, he can't win, so we don't always get sent to the same world. But most of the time, he does tip the balance so we have to go in to fix it."

"Wait," Amber said. "So what if you guys get sent into the same world but there's another world where the heroes also aren't good enough but you can't help you're too busy keeping the balance where he is? What happens then?"

"We're not the only Part-Time Heroes in the Multiverse," Penn answered. "There are some worlds with their own Part-Time Heroes. There are others in my world, too. Some live in different cities, some live in different countries. But we're all on the same team. We can go into worlds where other Part-Time Heroes need help and we restore the balance there. Or we go to a world where the Part-Time Villain won and we restore the balance there. We don't always fight the same Part-Time Villain all the time. We don't even fight Part-Time Villains sometimes. This is just what happens most of the time."

"Ooooohhhhh," Amber said, finally understanding. "So this guy, Rippy or sumthin'-"

"Rippen."

"Whatever. This guy's tryna be a _real_ villain?"

"Full-Time Villain but yeah," Penn said.

"An' he's never won a fight against you guys even once?"

"Nope," Penn said, and a prideful, almost arrogant smirk appeared on his lips. Seeing that made Amber smile too a little before her face became serious and her voice became tentative, much like Penn's had when he'd asked about her father.

"And he's the guy that trapped your parents in the Most Dangerous World Imaginable?"

Penn hesitated and just for a moment, his face contorted into a terrifying hateful expression, a mixture of sadness and rage. Amber almost scurried back in fear at seeing it but then it was gone, so quickly that had she not been looking at him the whole time, she would have even doubted it had been there.

"Yeah, he is," Penn said, and she couldn't imagine how much it was taking him to keep his voice even.

"Then why haven't you killed him yet?!" Amber asked incredulously.

For a moment, Penn didn't say anything. He just continued looking up at the sky and kept doing it for so long that Amber thought he hadn't heard her. Just as she was about to say something, Penn sighed. She stopped, caught off-guard by the reaction.

Penn turned to look at her again and there was a resigned look in his eyes.

"You think I haven't wanted to do that?" he asked. Unlike what Amber had expected, there was no anger or resentment in his voice. "You think I don't think about killing him whenever I see his ugly face or his stupid smile? You think I don't think about how good it would feel to just cross that line, take that final step and _kill_ the bastard?" He sighed again and turned back to face the stars. "I want to. Every day I want to. There isn't a single moment in my life when I don't want to. But as much as I want to, I can't. Not now, not ever. Because that's not what a hero does. And if I really am my parents' son, then I can never forget that."

Amber stared at him. As insane as everything he had told her sounded, she knew he was telling the truth. Everything she'd seen between him and Rippen, as well as his team and her father, made a strange sort of sense. And the sadness and rage she'd seen on his face just a second ago couldn't possibly have been faked. He was telling the truth. Everything he'd said to her was true. He had really lost his parents and he didn't know if he would ever get them back.

"I'm sorry," Amber said sincerely. Penn looked at her and there was a terrible sadness on his face. But he smiled at her, even as a tear rolled down his face.

"It's fine," he said. "I'm just glad you didn't lose your dad the same way I lost mine."

"Thanks, Penn," she said sincerely. Penn just smiled and looked back at the stars.

Neither one of them said anything for a while. Finally, Amber asked him something that she'd been wanting to know since Penn and Sashi's interaction in the kitchen.

"So you and the little lady a thing?" she asked out of nowhere.

Penn jerked and his heart almost exploded out of his chest.

"What?!"

"Honey, I ain't blind," Amber said, the knowing look on her face silently telling Penn to cut the crap. Penn sighed.

"No," he said.

"But you like her, don't you?" Amber said. Penn nodded wordlessly. He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck as a troubled look appeared on his face.

"Does she know?" Amber asked.

"I don't think so," Penn said. "She always was better at listening to her head than her heart."

"So are you," Amber said. Penn looked at her. "If you'd listen to your heart more, you'd have already made a move."

"I don't even know if she feels the same way," Penn argued.

"See, that right there's you listenin' to your head," Amber pointed out. Penn looked as if he was about to say something but then stopped. Seeing that he was actually listening to her, Amber went on. "You keep waitin' on makin' a move an' she'll move on," Amber said. "It's what I would do. It's what any girl does. Penn, if you lose her, you're not gonna feel better knowin' you played it safe. You're gonna regret not goin' all in."

"So I should go all in?"

"Is she worth it?" Amber asked. Penn didn't say anything for a second before he sighed and laid back down, looking up at the sky.

"I don't know," he said at last. "She's pushed me away before. I'm finally getting through to her, but I don't know if I should go for it now. What I have with her is great. I'm scared that if I want more from her, I won't have anything left when she says 'no'. I don't know if having that is worth losing this."

"Hm," Amber said, laying back down. She could see why Penn was so conflicted on this. It wasn't easy risking what you had for something you might not get. Things didn't always work out. Life wasn't always perfect. Penn's life was proof of that. Sometimes, the Hero didn't always win.

"You've got a chance, Penn," Amber said. "Whether it works out or not, are you really okay with never trying?"

Penn thought for a moment, not saying anything. He knew he'd been making progress but he'd never intended to end up feeling the way he did, he had only been trying to get Sashi to open up a bit more. He didn't even know if she felt the same way, although the more he thought about it, the more hopeful he became. She hadn't pulled away from him when he thought she would. She hadn't hurt him whenever he crossed a line. And, more than anything, she hadn't shut him out but had actually _let him in_. _Multiple times_. He knew for a fact that she had never done that with anyone else and likely never would. That had to mean something, didn't it?

The more he thought about it, the more he realized what it was that he was actually afraid of. It wasn't that he was afraid of losing what he already had with her. It was that he was afraid of not having _anything at all_ with her. And he realized that if he didn't take the chance he had with her now, that was going to happen anyway because she would move on and he would be left regretting not taking the chance while he still had it.

"You're right," he finally said.

"So you'll go for it?" Amber asked.

"Yeah," Penn said. "But not just yet."

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because she's not the kind of person that trusts people easily. This is going to take time."

"So long as you go for it," Amber said.

Both of them laid back down on the roof and went back to stargazing.

"Thanks for this, Amber," Penn said sincerely. "It feels good to finally talk to someone about this."  
"Least I can do," she said.

And they lay back on the roof and watched the stars.

The next morning, Sashi found Penn and Amber asleep on the roof, with Penn snuggled comfortably in Amber's arms and her hugging him like a teddy bear. Now that had been very hard to explain and both Scaley and Sashi had not been very happy with that. Even as Penn left that world behind with some new scars, he couldn't help but be a little happy with how Sashi reacted to that sight. Maybe he had a chance with her after all.


	10. Shirley B Awesome

**Penn Zero Fanfiction**

**Author's Note**

**This is the final out of the three chapters. So I know in the previous chapters, there was a bunch of stuff that isn't mentioned in the actual show at all. Now that I think back on it, there are so many holes in the basic concept of the show or things that aren't explained. I wanted to put my own spin of that so I filled in the holes as best I could. I also wanted to sort of expand this universe a bit because of the next arc I had planned. You guys will see what I was talking about in the coming months. I'm planning on doing another 'original work' like I did with the karate tournament but bigger.**

**I'm gonna be honest here. There's too much going on in my life right now. I really should have waited on starting this until summer vacation but I didn't and I tried really hard but I just can't balance this with my personal life. It's just too much. I sacrificed an entire weekend working on these chapters nonstop and now I'm behind on my work just because I wanted to get this out.**

**I'm officially putting this story on hold. I feel really guilty about making you all wait for something for so long and that is entirely my fault. So it feels even worse that I'm doing this now but I don't have any choice in the matter. So these three chapters are my parting gift to you guys. Thank you all for viewing my story. A very special thank you to PootisSpencer for your support and encouragement. There are some emotions that words just aren't enough to express. My gratitude is one of them. All I can say is thank you to you and everyone else for inspiring me to write and commit to this the way I have. So until next time...**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Shirley B. Awesome**

"You know, besides the yelling and the abusive tendencies and the know-it-all attitude, Shirley wasn't actually all that bad," Penn told Boone and Sashi as they walked out of the theater. "And you guys can't deny she was a great hero. Giving it her all to the end for the sake of the mission."

"Yeah," Boone said, a hint of admiration in his usually uncaring and lazy tone. "I don't know anyone who'd have the guts to do that."

Penn and Sashi stared at him.

"What?"

"Boone, what do you think our job is?" Sashi asked.

"Saving the world at all costs," Boone said.

Sashi waited. Boone waited. Penn waited. Then...

"OH MY GOD!" he yelled in a panic. "WE'RE GONNA DIIIEEE! WE'LL END UP BLOWN TO BITS LIKE SHIRLEY B. SOMETHING! I'M NOT READY TO DIE YET! PENN! FIND ME A WIFE AND TELL HER TO TAKE CARE OF OUR KIDS!"

"I'm not sure that's how it works, Boone," Penn said patiently while his friend freaked out. The two of them watched their beloved Wiseman scream and run around in a panic, talking idly to pass the time and completely ignoring their friend who was having a meltdown. Finally, after two whole minutes of panicking, Boone finally calmed down, leaning over and breathing heavily, one hand on his knee and the other against his chest.

"You okay now, buddy?" Penn asked him.

"Yeah, I'm good now," Boone said, his signature lazy look plastered back on his face. Seeing that all was good, the three of them prepared to go their separate ways before Boone got an idea.

"You guys wanna come over to my house?" he asked them. Penn and Sashi looked at him in surprise. "I'm free for the day and my parents are gone to see some friends. They won't be home until tonight so it'll just be us." Penn and Sashi looked at each other, considering this. "Come on, guys," Boone insisted. "It's been a while since we all just hung out. At school, the only thing we do together is eat lunch. At work, all we ever do is fight bad guys. When was the last time we all just got together and had fun?"

Penn and Sashi thought for a moment, then Penn agreed.

"Sure, Boone. I'm up for it," he said.

"I got nothing better to do," Sashi said. "Why not?"

Boone beamed and the three of them started on their way over to his house with Boone talking nonstop the whole way. While Sashi grew annoyed quickly, she didn't say anything. At one point, she was about to but Penn had gently put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head at her and she had immediately dropped it. Penn had been touching her a lot lately, something Boone hadn't failed to notice and he didn't forget it, even after he had stopped talking and gotten lost in his own thoughts on the way over to his house.

The touching wasn't the only thing he had noticed. He had also seen how the two of them stood just a bit closer than normal now, how Sashi seemed to smile just a little bit more, or how Penn seemed to be pointedly oblivious to any female attention he got from the girls at school and Sashi's mood _coincidentally_ seemed to improve. Despite all his shortcomings when it came to his job, Boone was still the Wiseman for a reason.

If he was being honest with himself, he really did miss spending time with his friends the way that they used to near the beginning of the year. Back then, the work they got from school and the demand from their job wasn't so hard to balance with their personal lives. Even so, as much as he missed those good times, he had another reason for doing this.

Penn was his greatest friend in the whole world and he truly cared about him in a way he never would anyone else. Despite his apparent cowardice when it came to his job, if Penn ever got too deep into trouble, Boone knew for a fact that he would dive in to save him, to hell with the consequences. He had grown plenty from the Wiseman he used to be when he started this job and he was much more capable than he let on. He would do whatever it took to protect Penn from whatever was threatening him. And that didn't always mean enemies. Sometimes, it meant friends, too.

Boone had initially not been very happy with the change that had recently begun taking place between Penn and Sashi. He had always viewed Sashi as being way too rough and Penn being way too soft. He didn't want his friend to be committed to someone who didn't deserve him and in Boone's opinion, with the way Sashi sometimes treated Penn, she didn't deserve him.

But then things began to change. Sashi began to change. At first, it was almost too subtle for Boone to notice, but eventually, he caught on. Sashi had begun to change, first in small ways, then in bigger ones. And it didn't take long for the Wiseman to realize why. And from that observation he had concluded that if Sashi was willing to change if Penn wanted her to, if she was willing to put in the effort to do that just because he asked her, then maybe she did deserve him.

But then, he lost all the good faith he'd had in Sashi because when they had gone to the Dragon World, Sashi had forgotten all about Penn, a guy who had saved her life almost at the cost of his own multiple times, and became completely obsessed with a guy who she knew nothing about, over _looks_.

To say that Boone had been furious would be the understatement of the century. He had legitimately wanted to kill someone. At that moment, he had decided that even though Sashi might be trying to change for the better because she cared what Penn thought about her, she didn't really care all that much for him.

But then he noticed something else.

It was no secret that Penn was really popular with people in general. He was a great guy and everyone liked him for his good-natured sense of humor and easygoing attitude. But he also had a one-of-a-kind charm that set him apart from everyone else. And that made him _especially_ popular with the girls.

But none of them looked at him the way Sashi did.

The girls were all in love with the image they had of Penn. And while Penn didn't keep up an image like many of the most popular and charismatic people did, those girls still didn't know the real him. But Sashi did. And when she looked at him, Boone could see that the love in her eyes wasn't for an image of him, but just for _him_. And it was definitely love that Boone saw in her eyes, no matter how much she would try to hide it.

Boone's dad had once told him of a few girls he had dated before he met his future wife. He told them how some of them wanted different things for their lives and how some of them just couldn't keep him in their lives for whatever reason or how some of them just turned out to be the wrong person for him. He had told Boone that nothing hurts worse than a broken heart, and even the toughest Heroes feel it.

Boone had always viewed his dad as the strongest person in the world. To hear that from him had a jarring effect on Boone and he'd become more determined than ever to protect his best friend.

But when it came to Sashi, he didn't need to. Sure, she might crush on a few guys here and there, like Teddy or Blaze, but if it ever came to making a real choice, there would only ever be one choice for her, and it wouldn't be either of those guys. And knowing that had finally been enough to convince the Wiseman that maybe she deserved him after all.

But as good as all that was, as for something actually happening between them, that was an entirely different matter altogether, and infinitely more frustrating.

Boone wasn't as oblivious as he otherwise let people think he was. He had seen the change that was taking place before him and after a while and much thought and judgment of Sashi, he couldn't be happier that it was happening.

But it was taking _so f***ing long_. Boone had desperately desired to give either one of them a nudge or a push in the right direction but he had firmly resolved to stay out of it. Sashi would remain oblivious to how she felt, that much he knew for sure, but Penn would eventually figure it out. At first, he would pointedly ignore all the signs and maintain his distance from Sashi. Then he would deny that the change was happening, then he would try to convince himself that he was fine with how things were, then he would wonder if it was worth risking what he had for something Sashi might not be willing to give. But eventually, _eventually_, he would make a move.

However, Boone wasn't willing to wait that long. Despite knowing how this would all play out and knowing exactly what both of them would do, he had decided that it just wasn't worth the wait. He had overheard Penn's talk with Amber and had decided to respect Penn's wishes and not push him, but giving them a _push_ was completely different from giving them an _opportunity_, which was exactly what the invite to his house was for. Despite how much he missed the good old days spent with his friends playing video games and watching tv shows and stuffing themselves with food and falling asleep on the couch once they couldn't eat anymore, he had long ago accepted that the two of them would eventually find something with each other that he couldn't be a part of. More than anything in the world, he wanted his friends to be happy, and if they could find that happiness in each other, then he would do anything he could to give it to them, no matter where that left him.

Sometimes, Heroes had to sacrifice things for the greater good. That was what made them Heroes.

They finally got to Boone's house and went inside. Penn and Sashi began preparing for their video game and movie marathons and Boone began preparing for his master plan.

A little while later, they all sat down in front of the tv, an abundance of junk food in front of them. Penn and Sashi grabbed the controllers and started the video game while Boone munched on some snacks on the couch behind them.

"Let the games begin," Penn said dramatically to Sashi as he pressed the _Start_ button.

'_Indeed, let's,'_ thought the beloved Wiseman from behind them.

Later, it was just Penn and Sashi munching on snacks and watching movies. They had decided to sleep over at Boone's house. Boone's mom and dad had already bought two sleeping bags for them from their last few unannounced sleepovers so there was no big issue on sleeping arrangements. Boone's master plan had just been that he get the two of them so absorbed in the marathon that they didn't mind or didn't notice him leaving. He also didn't want the two of them to leave just because he did, so he had stayed even longer. However, _just in case_, Boone had stayed until it was plenty dark outside so that the only logical option would be for the two of them to sleep over. This was to ensure that the two of them would at least share a moment, if not something more, rather than just go home.

At the moment, Penn and Sashi were watching 'How To Train Your Dragon 2'.

"How do you tame an ALPHA?!" Sashi yelled at the screen in disbelief. "It is by nature the leader of the other dragons and it's obeying a human?! It has its authority challenged and it's just going to roll over?! WHY?!"

"I told you you'd enjoy this movie," Penn said as they watched the two Alphas battle for the right to lead the dragons.

"I'm yelling all the reasons why this movie is terrible," Sashi said as she turned her eyes on Penn whose own eyes were still glued to the screen. "How is that me enjoying the movie?"

"Because if you didn't like the movie, you would have left already," Penn said matter-of-factly.

"That's not why I stayed," Sashi said quietly. Penn looked at her but she didn't look back, instead settling comfortably against him again and turning her attention back to the movie. Penn was sitting on the floor, leaning back against the edge of the sofa, one arm behind his head, the other around Sashi's shoulder as she leaned against him. He didn't know when this had happened but he wasn't about to question it.

After the movie was finished, Penn moved to put the next one on but Sashi wouldn't let him move his arm. He looked at her in confusion.

"Uh, Sash?" he said. "Could you let go of my arm?"

"That's enough movies for one day, don't you think?" she said.

"But we still have to watch 'Frozen'," he said in a child-like, whiny voice. "And 'Tangled'," he added after a pause. He saw her react ever so slightly to the mention of 'Tangled', but then she relaxed and shook her head. Getting the point, Penn sighed and leaned back against the sofa and Sashi readjusted herself against him.

The two of them stayed like that for a while, neither one of them saying anything. After staring at the black tv screen for a few minutes, Penn sighed.

"Okay, Sashi, just say it," he said. Sashi looked at him in confusion.

"What?" she said confusedly.

"I can see your face in the tv screen. You've got that look you always get whenever you want to say something but you don't think you should say it. So just say it." He emphasized the last part, implying, though not outright stating, that he was getting tired of this habit of hers. This seemed to have its intended effect on her, as she decided not to try to play dumb and make him drop it.

"I just feel really bad about what happened today," she said. She looked up at Penn apologetically. "I should've stood up for you against Shirley and backed you up like I was supposed to. I should've trusted my friend more than my idol and I didn't. And because of that, we got caught and Shirley had to get blown up just to save us. What if that had been in the real world? What if she'd been a real person who had to do that to save us? What if one of _us_ had to make that sacrifice? What if-"

Suddenly, Penn pulled her closer against him, quieting her immediately. She looked up at him with sad, tearful eyes and he gently smiled down at her.

"Sashi, people make mistakes," he said to her comfortingly. Sashi was about to say something about how that wasn't a good enough reason to do what she did, but he cut her off.

"Let me finish," he said before she could talk. The firmness in his voice caught her off-guard and she immediately stopped herself. Satisfied, he continued.

"Sashi, you might think that heroes are these people who always make the right choice and do the right thing, no matter how easy or how hard it may be. You might think that the only reason things ever go wrong for them is because of the bad guy. But that's not true. Heroes are just people trying to do good in a world where it's too easy to do bad. Sometimes, they make mistakes. Sometimes they mess up. We've all done that at least once by now. But we never let that keep us down. My dad told me once that heroes aren't those that rise above everyone else. They're just those who stand up when no one else will. They're those who are willing to fight, those who are willing to give it their all without wanting or needing something back. They're people like _you_, Sashi." He smiled at her. "You're one of the strongest people I know. And you're the best partner I could ask for. It's okay if you're not perfect. No one is." At this, he looked away guiltily and withdrew his arm from her. "Besides," he said, turning away. "You're not the one with something to be sorry for."

"What do you mean?" Sashi asked, growing both concerned and confused. Penn sighed.

"Sashi, I look to you for support. I expect you to stand by me no matter what we're up against. I expect that from you because we're friends. We're partners. We're a team. And today, you didn't care about any of that. You threw all of that away and…" He paused, his expression full of hurt. "I understand why. I'm not a good Hero. I never have been. And I've never cared about it either. You have. You still do. But no matter how much you asked me to do the same, I never did. I expect so much from you and you give it without asking me for anything in return except that I actually do my job properly and I don't even give you that. And even now, you still think you have something to apologize for when the person who's really at fault here is me." He turned to her. "You picked Shirley over me because she's everything I _should_ be. She's a _real_ Hero. And me…" He looked down, ashamed. "I'm a disappointment."

Sashi's eyes were wide. "Penn-" she began but Penn continued talking.

"Sashi, I can't do anything I've already done any differently. I can't undo all my mistakes or fix all the things I've screwed up. But I promise you, from here on out until the end, I'll do better. I'll train more. I'll take my job more seriously. I'll do whatever it takes, push myself as much as I have to, I promise. Just…" He looked up at her and his eyes were practically begging.

"Sashi, just don't leave me," he said, his voice barely more than a whisper.

Faster than he could blink, Sashi was on him, her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. He froze, his eyes wide with surprise. He couldn't help but notice how small Sashi's body was compared to his and how _vulnerable_ she seemed as she pressed herself against him. Slowly, his arms wrapped around her and he held her gently. Then he noticed her body shaking and it took him a second to realize she was sobbing. His grip on her suddenly tightened protectively and he held her to him, shushing her gently, trying to calm her down.

"I'll never leave you, Penn," Sashi said. "Don't ever say that to me again, got it? Or I'll rip your arm off and stick it right where the sun don't shine and then reach down your throat and shake your hand, you hear me?"

Penn laughed at the absurdity of the threat as well as the fact that Sashi was hugging him while making it.

"You're not a disappointment, Penn," she said. "You're exactly what the worlds need. Real heroes aren't good enough. That's why we do what we do. Because the worlds don't need heroes. It needs us. It needs you." She hugged him tighter. "I need you." Another sob shook her body. "My whole life, I prepared for this job. My whole life, I did what I was supposed to. And my whole life, I was _miserable_. A life lived for other people isn't worth living, Penn. That's what I've been doing my whole life. And I hated it. Then I met you." She sniffed. "And you made me laugh. You made me have fun, even when I thought it was a waste of time. You made me open up. You made me love movies, and video games, and junk food, and…" _You_. "And you made me love my life for the first time. All that work, all that misery, everything I missed, everything I never had because of this life, all of it, it was worth it. Because I got you for it." She pulled back just enough to look at him, her arms still around his neck. "Shirley might have been a hero, but she could never be a partner. She could never be a friend. She could never be _you_. If it came down to choosing between her and every other hero in the Multiverse, or you, I'd choose you. Because you're _my_ hero, Penn. You're _mine_." She hugged him again. "And I'll never leave you."

Penn sat there in shocked silence. He didn't move a muscle. He just sat there, completely still, for a long time. Then, without warning, he wrapped his arms around Sashi and squeezed tightly, as if he were afraid to lose her and that holding her the way he was now was the only thing keeping her with him. Slowly, the two relaxed, although they never stopped holding each other. They sat there, the movies, games, and food long forgotten. Penn's head was filled with the one thing he was too afraid to say out loud.

_I love you_.

Unknown to him, Sashi thought the same.

Sometime later, the two had fallen asleep. Penn was leaning against the sofa, his head back against the edge, his arm around Sashi who was comfortably snuggled against him. The two slept peacefully, their chests rising and falling steadily as they breathed. Boone came downstairs a little while later when he realized he couldn't hear the sound of movies or games from downstairs and he was afraid his friends had left after all. However, when he saw the sight in the living room, he smiled. He silently cleaned up the food, turned off the tv, and gently draped a blanket over his two best friends.

"Goodnight," he whispered. As he was leaving, he looked back at the two of them and smiled. "I love you guys," he whispered.

And he walked out, leaving the two of them to sleep peacefully next to each other.


	11. Massive Morphy Merge Mechs

**Penn Zero Fanfiction**

**Author's Note:**

**IF YOU WANT TO SKIP THE PERSONAL STUFF AND GET TO THE STUFF ACTUALLY REGARDING THE ACTUAL CHAPTER AND THE FUTURE OF THIS STORY, READ AHEAD TO THE SECOND PARAGRAPH! THEN SKIP AHEAD TO THE ACTUAL CHAPTER! OTHERWISE, YOU CAN READ THE WHOLE THING!**

**Hey guys. I know I've been gone a long time. What can I say? Life is hard. Recently, it got a lot harder. On the one side, school has been complete and utter hell. The amount of work I get on a regular basis alone is unbelievable. But on the other hand, for the first time in 6 years, my family issues have finally been put to rest. My mental well-being and emotional health are better than they've ever been and I'm very, very thankful for that. Believe me, I wanted to work on this so much. But like I said, I had a lot of work to do and I could never find the time. I've also gotten a little rusty over time so please forgive the quality of this chapter if it's a little lacking.**

**So as I was writing this, I had to go back and rewatch a lot of the show to get a feel for the characters again and I had to read all my older chapters again to see how the relationship between Penn and Sashi progressed to figure out where to take this story next. And I realized there isn't really anything else I can do with it. It's reaching its end. I had originally planned on doing chapters scattered throughout the entire show but the problem is that their relationship progressed far faster in the story than I intended it to. At the same time, there wasn't any other way I could possibly write this story. Now their relationship has progressed to the point where they just need to take that final step. I'm debating on whether or not I should write one final chapter that would basically be an alternate ending to the show that shows how they took that last step or if I should just end the story here. Their relationship from here on out can be the same as it was in the actual show. I'm really unsure as to how to continue with this so I'm open to suggestions. As you know, you can always review and let me know what you think.**

**As far as Kids Shows go, I really loved Penn Zero. It was funny and great and I really loved it. When I first started thinking about writing, I wanted to write about this show. I've always loved writing and I've wanted to get better at it. It was why I started writing this story in the first place. To show my love for the show and to hone my skills as a writer. I'm glad you guys liked it. I liked writing it. I'm sorry I wasn't the best at updating and I'm sorry I kept you guys waiting for so long. But everyone has problems in their own life and there are just some things we can't control. And when it gets bad, like it did for me last year, the only thing I felt like I could do was close myself off from everything and escape my reality. That was why I didn't write for so long. I'm better now so I can continue writing. I just didn't want you guys to think I abandoned this story and all of you with it. I just needed time to heal. I hope you understand.**

**I've since learned that you can't escape your reality and that trying only makes it worse. You just have to find a way to make your reality a good one. I did that by learning to stand up for myself and learning to lean on people who I knew would be there for me. For anyone going through hard times, this is for you. I can tell you from personal experience, it gets better. But _you_ have to be the one to make that happen. For your sake. Trust me, it may be hard, but it's worth it in the end**

**Anyways, that's all I have to say. Hope you enjoy the chapter. Let me know what you think of it.**

* * *

**Massive Morphy Merge Mechs**

"Well done," Penn heard Phyllis' heavily accented voice say as the three Part-Time Heroes were zapped back into their dimension. "You saved the whole planet _and_ brought peace between the races. You make good Part-Time Heroes."

"Is that pride I hear in your voice, Phyllis?" Sashi asked, smiling teasingly at her boss. Phyllis chuckled before fixing Sashi with a serious glare.

"Ask me that again, I fire you," Phyllis said. Sashi just chuckled and continued.

"So that's a 'yes'," she said softly so that only Penn and Boone could hear. The two chuckled with her as they made their way out of the theater.

"What is so funny?" Phyllis demanded.

"NO-THING!" Boone called out in a sing-song voice as the doors closed behind them.

Phyllis shook her head. "Children. They only get _more_ annoying, never less." She suddenly smiled sadly as she remembered Penn's parents. They used to joke around with her so much that sometimes, even Phyllis would have to crack a smile. She missed them every day, especially whenever she was working to bring them back. She hoped they were okay.

Snapping herself out of her thoughts, Phyllis turned herself back to her work with a renewed determination in an effort to find Penn's parents.

Back outside, Penn, Boone, and Sashi were all walking home, talking about things the way anyone their age would. If someone were to see them then, they would look like any other teenagers instead of the death-defying heroes they actually were.

As they reached the intersection, they all said their goodbyes to each other and started to make their way home.

Penn walked towards his house, humming something under his breath. He usually didn't hum, seeing as how he could not sing at all and it annoyed even him to hear himself try. But today, that wasn't enough to make him stop. He had a smile on his face the whole way. Like Phyllis said, they didn't just save the planet and both the races that lived on it, they also brought peace between them. Phyllis was right. They did make for good Part-Time Heroes. Penn had a feeling that if his parents knew what they'd done, they would probably say the same.

At the thought of his parents, Penn's mood waned a little. He remembered how he thought they had been acting weird the last day he saw them. He wished more than anything that he'd made better use of his time with them while he still had the chance. He wished he'd known who they really were and who he was meant to be. Maybe things would have been a little easier. Maybe they would have been different. Even more so, maybe if he'd been trained like Sashi, he could have done something.

But even as that thought crossed his mind, he immediately realized how bad that would have been. Sashi had told him what that life had been like for her and Penn knew how she had turned out because of it. He absolutely loved the person she was now but he couldn't deny how bad she had been before. It was only because he'd kept trying to reach out to her and make her happy that she had changed in the ways that she had. Would he have ever tried to do that for her if he'd been raised like she was? And it wasn't even just that. He loved his life and the people in it because of the way he looked at the world and the kind of person he had become because of the way he'd been raised. That never would have happened if he'd been raised any differently. Even after everything that had happened, he still found the good in everything and that was what kept him so happy. He couldn't even fathom giving that up. And his parents were already very proud of the person he had grown up to be. Would they really say that if he'd turned out like Sashi had? And if he wasn't the person he was now, would he have ever made Sashi happy like she said he did?

Penn noticed his thoughts kept returning to Sashi. For a moment, he thought about trying to think of something else but then he decided to just let it go. He wasn't denying his feelings for her anymore. He knew how he felt. He knew how she had changed him. He knew how she made him feel. And he knew what he wanted, more than anything else.

The more Penn thought about it, the more he realized how much he loved her. He knew what he would do for her. He knew what she meant to him. And he couldn't hide from it anymore. He knew what he had thought when the two of them had slept over at Boone's house. He knew he had meant those words with every fiber of his being, even if he hadn't been able to say them out loud. He loved her. And he knew that even if the two of them ended up going their separate ways and he found someone else, no matter how close they came, they would never be as good as her. And Penn wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't try.

He recalled all of their adventures together, from their very first zap to their latest one. He remembered how Sashi had been so cold and distant with him, how she would always keep him and Boone at arm's length. And he remembered how, slowly but surely, she had warmed up to the both of them and how she would joke around and fool around with them more and more. He remembered their arguments, their fights, their good times, and he remembered what it felt like when it had just been the two of them. He remembered how the two of them would always have those moments. That second when the world disappeared and it was just the two of them. How he would want nothing more than to just take her and hold her and tell her everything he felt about her and throw it all to hell for that one tiny sliver of a chance that she'd say yes to him. Penn knew that he'd never feel that with anyone again.

He loved her. Nothing would ever change that. And even if something could, he didn't think he'd want it to. He wanted to be with her. He wanted to be more than just her friend. He wanted to be _her's_ and he wanted her to be _his_. He loved her. More than any other girl he'd ever met, he loved her. He couldn't deny that and he couldn't keep that to himself anymore. He lover her.

And it was about time he finally let her know it.

_Meanwhile_

Sashi walked home with a spring in her step and a smile on her face. If anyone saw her at the moment, they would look twice to make sure they weren't seeing things. Sashi looked…_ happy._ It was so rare that people might think the world was ending.

But at the moment, Sashi didn't care who saw her looking like that. Today had been a good day and nothing could take that away from her right now. Nothing. Even Phyllis had praised them. For Phyllis to say anything more than 'be quiet' or 'good luck' or any variation of those phrases was practically a godsend. And this mission had been the best of any mission they had ever had before. If that wasn't a reason to smile, nothing was. To put it simply, Sashi Kobayashi was in a very good mood.

This was, in and of itself, a rare occurrence. Sashi was not a very optimistic person. She never had been. She had always made it a point to be prepared for the worst-case scenario. It was precisely that fear of failure that had always pushed her to be better. To be the best. And if she was being honest with herself, she was quite proud of all her accomplishments and everything she had achieved throughout her life. But if given the chance, she would definitely choose a normal life over the one she had lived. She still felt sad over not having had a childhood and not having had the time to enjoy all the things other people had enjoyed at that age. She still felt alienated at times when she saw people who were interested in certain things. She had no interest in those things because she'd never had the time to be immature like that and she'd never had the time to learn to like those things. It all made her feel more lonely and more out of place and it would often make her depressed and sad. Somehow, that was also when Penn would usually show up and make her forget all of that.

Penn. She often found herself thinking about him a lot nowadays. Obviously, with him being her partner and them doing death-defying things regularly, it was no surprise that they were close, but something had changed recently. She thought back to how the three of them were when they had all first started working together compared to how the three of them were now. It still surprised her how much she had changed. And a lot of that change had to do with Penn.

Sashi had always been a closed-off person and a huge reason for that had been because of the way she was raised. No one could relate to her, no one could ever understand her. It had driven her to close herself off from the rest of the world and even though she hadn't known it back then, it had made her lonely and sad. She would deny it, telling herself that she was fine and that nothing was bothering her and for a while, it worked. But then she met Penn and saw how happy he always was and how close he and Boone were and she realized all that she didn't have. Finally, unable to deny it any longer, she had realized and admitted to herself that she wanted friends. But it scared her to open herself up to someone the way people opened up to friends. She didn't think she was ready for that so she had initially remained closed-off on instinct. But Penn was unbelievably stubborn when he wanted to be. He was always trying to be friends with her, always trying to get her to come out of her shell. Finally, unable to resist it any longer, and knowing she wanted to, Sashi finally opened up to him and it ended up being the single greatest thing she had ever done for herself. Penn turned out to be worth all the fear, all the effort, and all the annoyingness that came with it. He made her happier than anyone else did and he had motivated her to be a better, kinder person. She thought back to the way she used to be when they had first met and she thought about all the ways Penn had changed her. She actually liked who she was now and she had him to thank for that.

She sighed and brought her hand to her chest. It closed into a fist and she kept it there, feeling the beating of her heart. Something had definitely changed. She could see it in the way Penn looked at her. In the way he acted with her. She could feel it in the way _she_ acted with _him._ And most of all, she felt it when they were alone. When it was just the two of them and no one else. How the world seemed to just disappear from around them and how those few, precious, fleeting moments they shared belonged only to _them_. Sashi may not be very emotional, but even she knew what that meant. Something had definitely changed. She was done denying it. Sashi Kobayashi, professional Part-Time Sidekick and Full-Time Asskicker, was in love.

Surprisingly, it hadn't taken her all that long to figure out. Accepting it had taken her a lot longer, naturally, but figuring it out hadn't taken all that long. And she couldn't deny it after that sleepover at Boone's. She knew what she had thought to herself about him. _I love you_. That was what had gone through her head. If she was being honest with herself, it scared her. Sashi's entire job was to cover the team's blind spots. If Boone was the wild card and Penn was the spearhead, then she was the armor and shield. She had been trained from a young age to protect people. Her entire life revolved around guarding herself and others. So the last thing she ever wanted to feel was vulnerable. And around Penn, that was exactly how she had felt. Every single time, whenever it was just the two of them, she had felt vulnerable. And it had scared her. But eventually, she had learned to trust Penn. It had taken a long time, but eventually, she learned to let her guard down around him and she eventually grew to love him. At first, she had denied it. Then she had tried to control it. Then she had tried to get over it. But none of that worked and at this point, just being friends wasn't enough for her. All her life, she had stayed far away from risk and had protected herself at all costs. It had _sucked_. She had hated every second of it. She was tired of it. Staying safe. Staying away from everything she could possibly have just because it might cost something. She didn't care anymore. So what if it cost her something? So what if things changed? So what if there was a risk? There would always be a risk. For everything, not just this. And if she really asked herself if there was anyone worth that risk in the entire world, she would always come to the same answer. Yes. There was one person. Only one. It was Penn. And it would always only ever be him.

Sashi didn't want anyone else. No one else would ever be good enough. She wanted to be with Penn, and only Penn. Forget Teddy, or Blaze, or any other decent-looking guy she had ever met. They may be good-looking, but none of them would ever measure up in the ways that actually mattered. She only wanted to be with Penn. She wanted it so badly it hurt. She couldn't deny it anymore. She loved him. She loved everything about him. And she didn't want anyone else to have him. _She_ wanted to be the one to hold him. _She _wanted to be the one to comfort him. _She_ wanted to be the one there for him. No one else.

She was tired of denying herself things she wanted. She was tired of denying what she knew to be true. She loved him. She always would. And it would only ever be him. She knew that now.

And it was about time he did too.


	12. Finale

**Penn Zero "Moments"**

**Author's Note**

**THIS NOTE DOESN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE STORY! IF YOU'RE NOT INTERESTED, PLEASE SKIP DOWN TO THE BEGINNING OF THE CHAPTER!**

**So this is going to be my last chapter on this fanfiction (as if the title didn't already make that clear enough). Honestly, I'm not really happy with the final product, but then again, I never am, even when everyone around me tells me otherwise. It's hard to find someone who will just give you their straight-up honest opinion. Also, I need the opinion of people who actually know what a good story looks like and can give me constructive criticism. So as if finding an honest opinion wasn't hard enough, I also need to find someone who can give me good advice.**

**Anyways, this chapter draws inspiration from Spiderman: Far From Home and The Walking Dead. A weird combo, I know. But in my head, it made an odd sort of sense. If anyone can guess which elements of those two I incorporated, hats off to you. Man, to think about how long ago I started this, and more importantly, why I started this, it surprises me what it became. I'm currently working on two other stories (they're not posted here yet) so this one was really delayed but at the same time, I needed a fresh change of pace. Still, this was my first story and in a way, it'll always be special to me.**

**Contrary to what some people may have believed, I didn't abandon this story. I don't abandon projects of mine, ever. I just need some recovery time, that's all. But I don't abandon things. Anyways, as far as Penn Zero goes, this is my final gift to you. Also, thank you to PootisSpenser for being one of my first ever reviewers and for giving me inspiration when I needed it. Thank you also to all the people who also reviewed. I know it wasn't many, but that made it all the more meaningful that you did. I hope this finale makes you proud.**

**Without further ado, I present to you all the moment you've been waiting for. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Finale**

The fire gave off a warm glow as it burned. The couch was soft and comfortable underneath him, but not to the point that he felt like he was sinking into it. Everyone else was asleep so he had it all to himself, something he took full advantage of as he lay on it with his legs laid out straight. He had to admit, he didn't expect to be staying in a hotel this nice. Usually, when students went on school-organized trips to foreign countries, they stayed in the cheapest places possible that were still technically livable because the school didn't want to pay too much. However, a large portion of the fee to come on this trip had actually gone into living accommodations for the students, not the travel cost. Now Penn understood why it had been so costly, and despite his reservations, he'd decided it was worth every penny. And he wasn't just saying that because of this superior-quality couch, although it was a bit more significant in his verdict than it should have been if he was being honest.

Penn sighed as he shifted to get more comfortable. The only reason he had come on this trip was because Sashi had been going on it too. He usually didn't like these kinds of trips because people were always more concerned with staying on schedule than they were with actually enjoying the trip. They always went to every tourist destination as fast as possible and snapped a few pictures instead of actually looking around and enjoying the sights and appreciating everything. It was the biggest reason he only ever traveled with his family, as their travels were always relaxed and enjoyable. However, Sashi had really wanted to go and Penn knew that she needed company if she was actually going to enjoy her trip. She didn't get along with anyone else and Boone, while he meant well, would surely drive her insane. Wanting her to enjoy her trip and seeing that she really wanted to go, Penn asked his Uncle Chuck and Aunt Rose if he could go too. Surprised at his request, they agreed, although it took a bit of convincing because of the cost. Soon, Penn packed all the things he needed and joined Sashi.

He had to admit, the trip had defied all of his expectations in the best way possible. The living accommodations were nice, the food was _great_ (he would really have to try more European cuisine when he got the chance), they had gone to _Venice_, and the trip was considerably more relaxed than he was expecting. There was a certain amount of time they stayed at any one given location and within that time, students were free to go exploring the city, so long as they stayed within the outlined area so they didn't get lost.

Penn had been really surprised at Sashi's love of Venice's tourist attractions. She had talked about everything from the food to the architecture to the art to the music. Penn hadn't expected her to be interested in any of that stuff since most of the things she talked about were usually related to horrific violence so it had been a pleasant surprise to see this side of her. Back in Middleburg, Sashi's tough-girl persona rarely ever faltered. It was nice to see her not as Sashi, the tough and unbeatable Sidekick, but just as Sashi, a regular highschool girl.

Sashi had made it a point to drag Penn with her across every inch of area they were allowed to explore within the time they had so the majority of Penn's day had been going along with Sashi and listening to her rant adorably on every little thing she saw. Eventually, they had to go back to the hotel they were staying at because it was getting late, although they still had one more day in that part of the city and Sashi vowed to make the most of it. Which led to where Penn was now.

It was late. He should have really been asleep by now but he had learned long ago how to survive and function on fewer hours of sleep while at the same time being just as well rested as he would be with a full eight hours. He had recently adopted the dymaxion sleep schedule and, although it was absolute hell to get used to it, it was well worth it as he felt better than he had when he used to sleep eight hours. He had already slept earlier and so he decided to come down here for some peace and quiet away from the sounds of snoring kids. It was warm and comfortable down here and he found it quite easy to think.

Things had really changed between him and Sashi over the last few months. Despite how dense Penn could be sometimes, he had noticed the slow but steady change between him and Sashi. The way she was softer towards him than everybody else. The way she often touched him and leaned into him whereas she would recoil from anyone else. The way she would always smile when it was just the two of them but hide it as well as she could from almost everyone else, save for Boone. Penn had noticed how she had changed. And he had noticed how he had as well.

He wasn't oblivious to how beautiful Sashi was. He noticed it back when they first met and although he'd been terrified of her, he had still had a bit of a crush on her. However, since they were partners, he had decided it would be best not to pursue a romantic relationship with her. Also, back then, he was way too scared to ask any girl out, let alone Sashi. Eventually, his crush on her faded away and they established a strong partnership. However, as time had gone on, Penn had slowly started to develop more affection towards her. He'd convinced himself it was just friendly affection, but after the night they watched movies together at Boone's house, he couldn't tell himself that anymore. The fact was, he had grown to love Sashi, and the idea of any other guy making a move on her made him uncomfortable to say the least. (He also wanted to kill Blaze for totally unrelated reasons. On second thought, maybe not _totally _unrelated.)

He loved her. And after sitting here alone, with nothing but the warmth of the fire and the peace and quiet, he decided he wasn't going to wait until some other guy had the guts to ask Sashi out before he did. Even if she said 'no' to Penn, it wouldn't cost him his friendship with her. Their bond ran way too deep to be lost over something like this. He loved her. And he'd rather let her go than lose her.

A sound from the stairs alerted Penn out of his relaxed state and he got up to look over the couch to see Sashi walking down the steps, her hair messy, her makeup gone, and wearing chibi kitten pajamas.

_'This is literally the best she's ever looked,'_ Penn thought. He cleared his throat, took a moment to cleanse his mind, and then spoke.

"Sashi? What are you doing up right now?"

"I could ask you the same thing, stupid," she said, although she smiled affectionately as she said it. She yawned, rubbed her eyes, and then made her way over to the couch.

"Move," she said. Penn complied, sitting up and making space for her to sit down. "Why're you still awake?" she asked.

"I couldn't sleep so I came down here to think," Penn answered honestly.

"About what?" Sashi asked.

"Nothing, really," he replied. He sighed as he leaned back into the couch. "I was just thinking about what a crazy year it's been." He laughed. "Man, I remember when I first found out I was supposed to be a Part-Time Hero."

"Yeah, you were scared and stupid," Sashi replied. "Now you're competent and stupid."

"I'm guessing that's a compliment," he said jokingly.

"It is," she replied.

Penn sighed and he and Sashi sat there in comfortable silence for a while. "You know, you've changed a lot since I first met you, Sash," he said honestly. "You shut me out so hard, I didn't know if you'd ever open up to me." He looked at her and smiled. "I'm really glad you did."

She smiled back. "So am I," she said. She turned her head and her gaze drifted to the fire. "I know I can be mean. Scary. Violent. I know it's not easy to be around me. But you stayed, Penn. You were the only one I couldn't push away. You stayed with me, no matter what." She looked back at him and smiled. "Thanks, Penn. For all of it." Penn gently took her hand in his and their fingers intertwined. Unlike before, Penn didn't pull away this time, even with the heat rising in his cheeks. Unknown to him, Sashi was feeling the same. Despite the embarrassment, neither one of them pulled away from the other, although both of them waited for the other to do just that. When it didn't happen, they both looked at each other. Sashi opened her mouth to say something.

"Penn, I-" she began, unable to get the words out. "I-"

"I love you," Penn said, cutting her off. Sashi's words died in her throat as she processed what Penn just said. For a moment, she wondered if she'd heard right. She wondered if he'd really just said that. But just as she was about to convince herself it hadn't just happened, Penn said it again.

"I love you, Sashi," he said. "And not just as a friend. I love you. I've loved you for a long time and I've been meaning to say it, I just… I didn't know if I should. I waited a long time wondering how you would react or what you would say or if you would accept me or a million other things that scared me and stopped me from saying it. But I keep thinking about all those times you had a crush on some other guy and how it made me feel. Sashi, you're beautiful and amazing and funny and cool and strong and smart and I know that you're not going to wait around forever. I know that one day, some guy is going to let you know how great you are and he's going to ask you out and you might say yes and the two of you might be happy together and I-" he faltered. "And I want to be that guy. I want to be the one to make you feel special, to make you feel amazing, to show you that there's no one else like you and that it makes you one of the most precious people in the world to me. Sashi, I want to be with you. And even if I can't, even if you say no, I… I'd rather get rejected and let you go than miss my chance to tell you and lose you to someone else. It would hurt me but… But you're worth it, Sashi. You're worth it. I love you. And I can't go any longer pretending I don't."

Penn looked at her, his eyes looking into hers for an answer he couldn't seem to find. Their hands were still intertwined and although Penn looked nervous, he didn't pull away, and neither did Sashi.

Then she pulled her hand away from his.

Penn breathed in sharply as he felt the feeling of a knife being jammed into his heart. He was too late. She didn't love him. Not anymore. Maybe she never did. Maybe-

She leaned over and pressed her lips to his, shutting down any all thoughts he was having. Penn's eyes widened as he realized what was happening. Sashi was kissing him. _Sashi was kissing him. She was actually KISSING HIM._

She pulled away and smiled at him. "Took you long enough," she said. Penn stared at her wide-eyed and she lightly chuckled. "You look stupid."

"Don't I always?" Penn replied. Then he realized what he had said and he stuttered, tripping over his words as he tried to think of something to say to redeem himself. Sashi put a finger to his lips and he instantly shut up.

"Shh," she said. Penn didn't realize how but somehow, while they had been kissing, she had moved so that he was lying down on his back and she was leaning over him. "I wanted to say it, too, Penn," she said. "For a long time. I just didn't know how. I didn't even know if I should. Honestly, I only flirted with other guys because they were so easy. They didn't matter. But you did. And I couldn't risk you leaving me so I didn't say anything. I _couldn't _say anything." She touched a hand gently against Penn's face. "But I wanted to hear you say that for so long. I love you too, Penn. And I can finally say it now. I love you, too." She kissed him again and this time, Penn leaned into it fully, his arms gently going around her and pulling her closer.

They finally pulled away when they were running out of air. Their faces were both flushed and both had a smile on their face as they looked at each other.

"So…" Penn began, not knowing what to say. "Is this like, a thing now?"

"Hmmm. Maybe," Sashi said coyly. Then, without warning, she lightly punched Penn in the shoulder, or at least, what was lightly for her.

"Ow," Penn complained. "What was that for?"

"You might be my boyfriend now, but you're still the Hero and I'm still the Sidekick. Nothing's changed."

Penn rubbed his shoulder. "Despite the physical abuse, that's oddly comforting to hear," he said. Sashi laughed and kissed him again.

"What time is it?" Penn asked.

Sashi checked her watch. "Just a little past midnight," she answered. "Why?"

"We've still got time," Penn said.

"Time for what?"

In response, Penn grabbed her waist and flipped them over so that she was lying on her back and he was on top of her. "Time for this," he said and kissed her again. Sashi wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back.

"I love you, Sashi."

"I love you, too, Penn."

And finally, for the first time in a long time, for the first time since he lost his parents, Penn finally felt hopeful again. He didn't just feel happy. He felt whole. As he kissed Sashi, as the two finally connected the way they'd been begging to for so long, Penn realized. No matter what happened, whether they won their battles or not, they would be okay. So for once, he cast aside his worries, lived in the moment, and allowed himself to let go. And it was the _best feeling ever._


End file.
